A star in the sky
by isnt-that-wizard
Summary: On Gallifrey, the Doctor had a daughter, what if this daughter escaped the Time War, what if she was trapped on the Dalek crucible. How would he react to her being alive? And how will it affect them with the Gate approaching? First in the Starlight Saga.
1. Journeys ends

**Hello! Since today is the day series 8 comes out (Woo!) Today is the day I finally upload my Doctor Who OC series.**

**This will follow the OC's POV and will essentially start from the 10th Doctor specials, with one episode from Series 4.**

**Each episode will be one chapter and will also include the SJA cross overs.**

**~.~ scene break.**

_**"italics" **_**Gallifreyan.**

_**'italics' telepathic communication.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor who, unfortunately :(**_

~.~

"The TARDIS is secured!" A Dalek shouted as said TARDIS landed on the crucible with a crash.

Stars head shot up from where she sat in her holding cell not the slightest bit afraid of being surrounded by Daleks. She watched with caution as the Daleks all gathered around, their eyepieces twitching as they watched.

"Doctor!" the Supreme Dalek shouted. "You will step forth or die!"

"More like he will step forwards and you will die." She muttered, bitterly.

Honestly, after everything she had done and been though with the Daleks, she know longer was bothered to be afraid of them, after all, they did look like giant pepper pots on wheels.

"Surrender, Doctor, and face your Dalek masters."

"Crucible on maximum alert." A Dalek called.

"Oh, so you're scared of him but not me." Star rolled her eyes, annoyed at that piece of information, even though she knew they were slightly afraid even if they didn't show it; they had locked her in a holding cell and destroyed her weapons bag and they called her the Predator, which made sense, Daleks were her prey during the war, she hunted them down, and it was very rare any of them to survive her.

"You are secure." A Dalek turned to her.

"Wanna bet."

The Doctor stepped out onto the crucible, followed by a blonde woman and a man.

"Dalek reign supreme!" the Supreme shouted. "All hail the Daleks!"

"Daleks reign supreme!" the other Daleks chanted. "All hail the Daleks! Daleks reign supreme! All hail the Daleks!"  
"Daleks will never reign supreme!" Star yelled as she stood up.

The Doctors eyes widened as he finally noticed her. _"Nova?" _he breathed in Gallifreyan not daring to believe it, no she couldn't be here!

"_Doctor?" _she mimicked.

"Silence!" the supreme turned to him. "Behold, Doctor. Behold the might of the true Dalek race."

"Donna?" the Doctor merely called back over his shoulder. Not worried about the Daleks either, and of course there was currently nothing he could do for Star…yet. "It's no safer in there…"  
The TARDIS doors slammed shut, causing the Doctor to dash over, Donna still inside.

"Doctor?" they heard Donna banging on the door. "What've you done?"

"It wasn't me." He shouted through the door. "I didn't do anything!"

"Oi! Oi, im not staying behind!"

"What did you do?" he rounded on the Supreme Dalek.  
"Let her out!" Star yelled at the Supreme.

"This is not of Dalek origin." The Supreme stated.

"Doctor!" Donna continued to bang and yell.

"Stop it!" he turned to the Supreme angry, not only have they got his daughter captured but now they've locked Donna in the TARDIS. "She's my friend. Now, open the door and let her out!"  
"This is Time Lord Treachery!" the Supreme said.

"Me?! The door just closed on its own!"  
"Nevertheless: the TARDIS is a weapon and it will be destroyed."

The TARDIS fell through a trapdoor and into the crucibles core.

"You can't do that!" Star shouted. "That is it the last TARDIS!" she knew it was almost definite that no one else was able to escape to Time War; she knew what the Doctor did. She herself only just managed to escape, stuck in emergency temporal shift with Dalek Caan.

The Doctor stared down the trapdoor in horror. "What're you doing? Bring it back!" he started to panic. "What've you done?! Where's it going?"

"The Crucible has a heart of E-Neutrino Energy. The TARDIS will be deposited into the core."

"But you can't, you've taken the defences down." He raised his voice. "It'll be torn apart!"  
"But Donna's still in there!" the blonde gasped, advancing on the Supreme.

"Let her go!" the man demanded.

"You can't do that!" Star shouted, growing angrier by the minute and in her anger proceeded to punch her cell causing it to ripple, she always had anger issues, and she knew she always would.

"The female and the TARDIS will perish together! Observe." A holographic screen appeared above them. They looked to see the TARDIS bobbing in the white energy in the core. "The last children of Gallifrey are powerless."  
"I am NOT powerless!" Star shouted, her eyes flashing red for a second before anyone could see.

The Doctor watched the screen in horror. "Please." The Doctor pleaded. "Im begging you. I'll do anything!" he looked from the Dalek to the screen. "Put me in her place! You can do anything to me, I don't care, just get her out of there!"

Star stared at him, he was begging with a Dalek to die to save a human girl, who he most likely didn't know for even that long.

"You are connected to the TARDIS. Now, feel it die."

The Doctor looked at his daughter in the corner of his eye, looking at her in such sorrow that it broke her, for the first time in many years, she showed emotion other than anger, she felt sorry for him.

"Total TARDIS destruction in ten rels!" a Dalek announced. The blonde took the Doctors hand; Star saw and narrowed her eyes at the human. "Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One!"

The Doctor could only stare as the TARDIS faded away from the energy. Star, however, frowned, that looked more like it was dematerialising than being consumed by the energy.

"The TARDIS has been destroyed. Now, tell me, Doctor…what do you feel?" the Supreme asked him. The Doctor watched the screen a dark expression on his face "Anger? Sorrow? Despair."

"Yeah." He whispered.

"How about, loathing, rage, and utter disgust." Star countered, earning a small twitch from the Doctor but it faded quickly as he realised, she could have been talking about him, he'd left the planet without her, he broken his promise to her.

"Then, if emotions are so important, surely we have enhanced you." The Supreme continued.

"Yeah?" the man scoffed. "Feel this!" he turned and shot the Supreme, but the bullets bounced off ineffectually.

"Exterminate!" the Supreme fired at him and he screamed in pain and fell to the floor, apparently dead.

The girl knelt next to him. "Jack! Oh, my God. Oh, no..."

"Rose…" the Doctor whispered to her softly and pulled her back. "Come here, leave him."  
"They killed him."

"That's what Daleks do." Star rolled her eyes at the human female. She shot a glare at her, no idea who she was but not liking her at all.

"I know." The Doctor whispered Rose, "Im sorry."

"Escort them to the Vault." the Supreme ordered as the Doctor pulled Rose to her feet. "They are the playthings of Davros, now. Take the Time Lady."

A Dalek cancelled Stars cell and led her, the Doctor and Rose from the room. The Doctor looked back at Jack, who winked at him.

'_I saw that wink.' _

He looked over at Star as she walked over and followed, he noticed she stood apart from them and wondered just where she was from, had she just come from the war? She did look like it, she was dirty and in the Gallifreyan soldier uniform but she would have still been in the Academy during the time, she's still just a child, not a soldier. They had been taken to safe camps, hadn't they?

"Active holding cells." Davros ordered. The holding cells appeared over the three of them in separate spotlights, each a few feet apart. Davros rolled over towards the Doctor. "Excellent. Even went powerless, Time Lords are best contained."

Star held a snort. It was so easy to escape a light-base holding cell, the only reason she hadn't yet was because she knew exactly what the Daleks were doing. They were so stupid they had actually talked in front of her. Of course they didn't know exactly what she could do but still. Daleks were stupid.

"Still scared of me, then?" the Doctor asked, empty. He touched the edge of the holding cell, causing it to ripple with blue light. Rose copied. Star rolled her eyes, the human properly had no idea what kind of cell she was in and was only copying the Doctor to look like she knew what she was doing.

"It is time we talked, Doctor, after so very long..."

"No, no, no, no, no." the Doctor cut him off. "We're not doing the nostalgia tour happening right here, right now, 'cos the Supreme Dalek said 'vault', yeah?" he looked around at the surroundings. "As in dungeon. Cellar. Prison. You're no in charge of the Daleks, are you? They've got you locked away down here in the basement, like what, a servant? Slave? Court jester?"

Star smirked. "You're their pet!"

"We have…an arrangement." Davros corrected.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no." the Doctor laughed mockingly. "Star's right. You're their pet!"

"So very full of fire, is he not?" Davros rolled over to Rose. "And to think, you crossed entire universes, striding for parallel to parallel to find him again."

"Clingy." The Star muttered under her breath so no one heard.

"Leave her alone." The Doctor growled.

"She is mine." Davros smirked at the human. "To do as I please."

"Then why am I still alive?" Rose challenged.

"Its part of Dalek Caans prophesies." Star explained. "It's the only reason im alive." She shrugged, to be honest she didn't care if she was alive or dead, there was no point, death happened. Rose shot a glare at her, she didn't have a clue who she was but already really did not like her.

"You must be here." Davros added. "It was foretold. Even the Supreme Dalek would not dare to contradict the prophesies of Dalek Caan."

"Oh don't bring him out…" Star groaned. But he pressed a button on his control panel, a light shone down on Caan on his platform.

"So cold and dark." Caan half-sang. "Fire is coming…the endless flames…"

"What is that thing?" Rose muttered to the Doctor.

"You've met before." He replied. "The last of the Cult of Skaro. But it flew into the Time War unprotected."

"Caan did more than that." Davros chuckled. "He saw Time. Its infinite complexity and majesty raging through his mind. And…he saw it. Both of you." The Doctor and Rose glanced at each other.

"This I have foreseen in the wild and the wind." Caan giggled. "The Doctor will be here, as witness, at the end of everything. The Doctor and his precious Children of Time! And one of them will die…!"  
"Like hell they will!" the Star shouted.

"Was it you, Caan?" the Doctor snapped at it, struggling to control his rage. "Did you kill Donna? Why did the TARDIS door close? Tell me!"

"Oh, that's it!" Davros smiled in delight. "The end, the fire, the rage of a Time Lord who butchered millions. There he is. Why so shy? Show your companion…show her your true self." The Doctor didn't answer, growing uneasy. "Dalek Caan has promised me that, too." He smirked at him. "The Time Lady is showing her true self." The looked over at the Star to see her narrowing her eyes, now a brilliant crimson, her fists clenched in anger. The Doctor could only close his eyes.

"What's wrong with her…?" Rose began but stopped as she glared at her.

"Is there an issue?" Star asked, narrowing her eyes before blinking, her eyes changing back into their hazel.

"I have seen it." Caan cried. "At the time of ending, the Doctor's soul will be revealed."

"What does that mean?" the Doctor frowned.

"We will discover it together…our final journey." Davros remarked. "Because the ending approaches. The testing begins." He turned away.

"Testing of what?"

"The reality bomb." Star stated. They had spoken of their plan directly in front of her, thinking that she would not have a way to stop them, but she was full of surprises.

"Behold…he apotheosis of my genius." Davros activated a holographic screen displaying the testing chamber.

"…two, one, zero." The heard the Supreme count down. "Activate planetary alignment field!"

Before their eyes the planets were bathed in a white glow.

"But that's Z-Neutrino Energy." The Doctor gaped. "Flattened by the alignment of the planets into a single stream. No." he turned to Davros, panicked. "Davros, Davros, you can't! You CAN'T! NO!"

"You have to stop!" Star yelled.

But it was too late; the same glow built up in the top of the chamber and down onto the people below, dissolving them into atoms until the light dissipates.

"Doctor." Rose swallowed. "What happened?"

"Electrical energy, Miss Tyler." Davros answered. "Every atom in existence is bound by an electrical field. The Reality Bomb cancels it out, structure falls apart. That test was focused on the prisoners alone. Full transmission will dissolve every form of matter."

"The stars are going out…" Rose breathed.

"The 27 planets." The Doctor realised. "They become one vast transmitter. Blasting that wavelength."

Davros nodded. "Across the entire universe. Never stopping. Never faltering. Never fading. People and planets and stars will become dust. And the dust will become atoms and the atoms will become nothing. And the wavelength will continue, breaking through the Rift at the heart of the Medusa Cascade into every dimension, every parallel, every single corner of creation. This is the ultimate victory, Doctor! The destruction of reality itself!"

They looked up at the screen as a dark skinned woman appeared. "This message is for the Dalek Crucible. Repeat: can you hear me?"

"Put me though!" the Doctor demanded.

"It begins as Dalek Caan foretold."

"She one of your companions?" Star whipped to face the Doctor, dreading what the woman was planning on doing.

"The Children of Time will gather…and one of them will die!" Caan laughed.

"Stop saying that!" the Doctor cried, exasperated. "Put me though!"  
"Doctor!" the woman called, spotting him. "Im sorry. I had to."

"Oh!" Davros smiled. "But the Doctor is powerless, my prisoner. State your intent."

"I've got the Osterhagen Key." She held it up to show them. "Leave this planet and its people alone, or I'll use it."

"Osterhagen what?" the Doctor shook his head.

"What's an Osterhagen Key?" Star frowned.

"Who's that?" the woman furrowed her brow.

"Star. Time Lady."

"She's my daughter." The Doctor added.

"What?!" Rose screeched as the other woman's mouth dropped open.

Star merely narrowed her eyes. "Now, what the hell is an Osterhagen key!"

The woman swallowed before explaining, something Star did not like the look of. "There's a chain of 35 nuclear warheads placed in strategic points beneath the Earth's crust. It I use the key, they detonate and the Earth gets ripped apart.

"What?" The Doctor stared at her, horrified. "Who invented that?! Well, someone called Osterhagen, I suppose, but Martha, are you insane?"

"The Osterhagen Key is to be used it the suffering of the Human Race is so great, so without hope…that this becomes the final option." Martha continued.

"That's NEVER the option." The Doctor and Star shouted in unison.

"Don't argue with me, Doctor. 'Cos there's more than that. Now, I reckon the Daleks need these 27 planets for something, but what if it becomes 26? What happens then? Daleks? Would you risk it?"

"She's good!" Rose nodded impressed.

The Star whipped around to her. "She is talking about genocide! And you're cheering her on?!"

"I just meant…" Rose stuttered.

"Who's that?" Martha cranked her neck trying to see who the apparent Time Lady was shouting at.

"Im Rose. Rose Tyler."

"Oh, my God, he found you."

The Doctor and Rose exchanged a look as the Star looked at them confused as to how they found each other; obviously something happened to split the pair up.

Another holographic screen appeared before Martha, this one showing Jack holding a diamond connected to a bunch of wires. Behind him, a blonde woman similar to Rose, an older woman and a black man. "Captain Jack Harkness calling all Dalek boys and girls! Are you receiving me? Don't send in your goons or I'll set this thing off."

"He's still alive!" Rose gasped. "Oh, my god, that's…that's my mum!"

"And Mickey." The Doctor nodded. "Captain, what are you doing?

Jack held the diamond higher. "I've got a Warp Star wired into the mainframe. I break the shell…the entire Crucible goes up."

"What the hell?" Star turned too glared at the Doctor. "Is this what you do? Turn innocent humans into killers?"

"You can't! Where the hell did you get a Warp Star?!" the Doctor shouted a Jack, ignoring his daughter, slightly hurt.

"From me." The older woman stepped forwards. "We had no choice; we saw what happened to the prisoners."

"Oh, you humans." Star sighed. "There is always a choice…"

"Impossible." Davros interrupted noticing the woman. "That face…after all these years."

"Davros." She whispered in return. "That's been quite a while. Sarah Jane Smith. Remember?"

"Oh." Davros sounded far too pleased. "This is meant to be the cycle of time is closing. You were there on Skaro at the very beginning of my creation."

"And I've learned how to fight since then. You let the Doctor go or this Warp Star, it gets opened!"  
The Doctor looked down, unable to look at any of them.

"I'll do it." Jack tweaked the necklace threateningly. "Don't imagine I wouldn't."

"Now, that's what I call a ransom." Rose laughed.

"Do you people hear yourself?" Star shouted at them in disgust. "That's murder! Do you really think your precious Doctor would want that?" She looked over at him to see him look at the floor in shame. She herself had just came from the front line of the Time War, she knew how bad she was when it came to murder, she killed without a second thought, but now…seeing these humans threatening to murder innocent life, it made her realise just how bad she was. "You are all WORSE than me!" And that was saying something, she had a serious darkness in her, she tried to keep it back, but this regeneration and the last, she was an insane soldier, literally. upon looking into the Untempered Schism, she went insane, she had this power inside her and he eyes could change red when she let it go.

"And the prophesy unfolds." Davros smirked.

"The Doctors soul is revealed!" Caan cackled. "See him! See the heart of him!"

The companions watched in silence as the Doctor looked down, buried with guilt.

"The man who abhors violence, never carrying a gun. But this is the truth, Doctor: you take ordinary people and you fashion THEM into weapons. Behold you Children of Time transformed into murders. I made the Daleks, Doctor. You made this. Even your own daughter, a soldier."

"There's trying to help." He breathed, quiet and ineffectually.

"Already, I have seen them sacrifice today for their beloved Doctor. The Earth woman who fell opening the Subwave network."

"Who was that?"

"Harriet Jones." Rose answered.

"Who's Harriet Jones?" Star asked quietly.

"Old Prime Minster." The Doctor stared at Rose, stunned. "She gave her life to get you're here."

"How many more?" Davros continued. "Just think. How many have died in your name?" Star closed her eyes as she saw in the Doctor mind as he remembered everyone who had died for him. "The Doctor…the man who keeps running, never looking back, because he dare not, out of shame. This is my final victory, Doctor. I have shown you…yourself."

'_No.'_ Star called in his mind. _'Don't listen.'_

'_Nova…'_

'_Don't let the break you. Yes, many have died in your name but think of how many people who you have made better.'_

'_Im the reason you're a soldier' _he countered.

'_No, that was regeneration, not you. Don't let them win.'_

"Enough." The Supreme Daleks voice boomed around them. "Engage defence 0-5."

Martha held the Osterhagen Key. "It's the Crucible…or the Earth."

"Transmat engaged!" A Dalek called. Suddenly Martha was surrounded by a white light; the Osterhagen Key fell to the floor. The transmat also surrounded Jack, Sarah Jane, Mickey and Rose's mother, Jackie, the Warp Star fell to the floor.

They all reappeared on the floor.

"Martha!" Jack helped her up. "I've got you, it's all right…"

"Nobody move!" Star ordered. "All off you! Stay still!" she was in no mood for them to argue and thankfully none of them did.

"Guard them!" Davros ordered. "On your knees, all of you. Surrender!"

"Do as he says." The Doctor told them, a lot less harsh than Star.

The Daleks glided around the humans, they obeyed and knelt down with the hands behind their heads.

"Mum, I told you not to!" Rose hissed to her mother.

"Yeah, but I couldn't leave you." She hissed back.

"The final prophesy is in place." Davros grinned. "The Doctor and his Children all gathered as witnesses. Supreme Dalek…the time has come! Now…" he shouted, pointing upwards. "Detonate the Reality Bomb!"

"Activate planetary alignment field!" the Supreme Dalek commanded. "Universal reality detonation in 200 rels!" the screen showed the planets starting to glow.

"You can't!" The Doctor cried desperately. "Davros! Just listen to me! Just STOP!"

Nothing! Can stop the detonation!" Davros roared with laughed. "Nothing! And no one!"

Suddenly to everyones surprise a familiar grinding noise sounded.

"But that's…" the Doctor frowned, completely thrown. Martha and Rose stared open-mouthed.

"Impossible." Davros muttered, as Caan giggled.

The TARDIS materialised. When a new Doctor step forth.

"Brilliant." Jack stared in awe.

Davros rolled back, afraid. The new Doctor ran towards him, a device in his hand.

"Don't!" the Doctor and Star cried.

Too late, Davros pointed at him and electrified him in the chest. He fell to the floor, slightly hurt. "Activate holding cell." A holding cell appeared around the new Doctor.

Donna ran out of the TARDIS. "Doctor!" she picked up the device. "I've got it! But I don't know what to do!" Davros sent her flying backwards with the same electricity.

"Donna!" the Doctor shouted. Davros grinned as she was sent flying to the controls.

Star glared at Davros, red eyed before she did something that no one expected. She disappeared and reappeared next to the ginger, smirking darkly, as she pulled the ginger behind the controls out of harms way.

Everyone stared in shock at what she just did.

"Destroy the weapon!" Davros ordered. A Dalek fired at it and it exploded. "I was wrong about you warriors, Doctor They are pathetic. Except for the abomination."

"Oi!" Star narrowed her crimson eyes at him. "Don't you dare call me an abomination!" she glared at him stepping out actually giving Davros a clear shot but before he could fire she pushed him further away, not bothering to care as everyone gaped at her. She smirked as he was shoved against the wall on the other side on the room.

Rose shook her head, as she and the humans assumed Star to be doing some weird Time Lord thing. "How come there's two of you?"

The Doctor blinked and closed his eyes. She just asked why there were two of them, not seeming to care if Donna was alive, unlike Star, the girl didn't know who any of these people were, had obviously just come from the war and still made sure that she was okay. "Human biological metacrisis. Star!" he looked to see her back at the controls.

Davros chuckled as the Time Lady and unconscious human were surrounded by Daleks.

"Stand witness Time Lords, stand witness humans." He activated the screen displaying the 27 planets. "Your strategies have failed, your weapons are useless, and…oh, the end of the universe has come."

Star smirked, Daleks really were stupid, they had no idea how powerful she was. She threw her hands out and shoved the Daleks away from them.

While everyone watched the screen as the Supreme Dalek counted down. The Doctor gazed over at Star sadly; she was who she was because of him. "Nine…eight…seven…six…" Star smirked as she helped Donna up and to the controls. "Five…four…three…two...one…"

The bomb powered down, the screen went dead. An alarm sounded. Everyone besides Donna and Star looked around is confusion.

"Ohh…" Donna started, her voice full of confidence. "Closing all Z-Neutrino relay loops using an internalised synchronus back-feed reversal loop!" she flicked a switch. "That one there."

The Doctor gave a small chuckle. "Donna, you can't even change a plug!"

"You want bet, Time Boy?" she challenged, grinning.

"You will suffer for this." Davros stated.

Star flicked another switch, electrocuting Davros' arm. He shrieked in pain. "Im a monster, you should have seen that coming."  
"Bioelectric dampening field with a retrogressive arc inversion." Donna explained.

"Exterminate them!" Davros ordered, furious.

"Exterminate!" a Dalek shouted. "Exterminate!"

Donna raised an eyebrow and pressed a few buttons and flicked some switches but she was slightly too late. While the Daleks powered down one had managed to fire.

"Star!" the Doctor yelled, trying to warn her.

She turned just as she was hit. She gasped as she stumbled slightly, before shaking it off, no, she would not show a weakness. She hurried back to the controls like normal with a few gasps of pain.

The Daleks twitched uncontrollably. "Weapons not-functional!"  
"What?" Donna tilted her head, mockingly. "Macrotransmission of a K-filter wavelength blocking Dalek weaponry in a self-replicating energy blindfold matrix?

"How did you work that out?" the Doctor asked, before shaking his head, no now wasn't the time. "Donna let us out!" he demanded, needing to get to his daughter.

"Time Lord. Part Time Lord." The new Doctor realised.

"Part Human!" Donna grinned, loving it. "Oh, yes! That was a two-way biological metacrisis. "Half Doctor... half Donna!"

"The Doctor-Donna... just like the Ood said, remember? They saw it coming! The Doctor-Donna. Now let us out!"

Star flicked some switches. "Holding cells deactivated." The cells deactivated. The Doctor rushed over to her as she fell to the floor, panting for breath.

"Star." He breathed and he held her. "Come on, regenerate. You can do it. Just regenerate, yeah? We've only just found each other again. I won't lose you, not now."

"Shut up!" She snapped at him, pushing him away, preparing herself to regenerate. "This is your entire fault in the first place!" he blinked at her, very hurt by her words, they were all true.

She threw her hands out and her head back as the orange regeneration energy took over, she screamed as she changed, her hair turned blonde and lengthened, she grew slightly. As the energy faded she stumbled forwards, and into the Doctor.

"Hello." He whispered.

Her eyes fluttered open and she looked up at them, he noticed they were grey. "Hi," she moved back to help the ginger.

"Seal the Vault." Donna called. "Well, don't just stand there, you skinny boys in suits, get to work! You too Blondie." She nodded to the Star.

She blinked "im blonde?" she really should check what she looked like but no time right now.

"Stop them!" Davros ordered, having rolled closer while everyone watched Star regenerate. "Get them away from the controls!" the Doctors rushed over to the controls.

Donna flicked a switched muttering, "And…spin." All the Daleks started to spin in circles. The Daleks cried out for help, causing them all to laugh. "And…the other way." She hit a switched causing the top half of the Daleks to spin in the other direction.

"What did you do?" the new Doctor asked.

"Trip-stitch circuit-breaker in the psycho-kinetic threshold manipulator."

"But that's brilliant!" the new Doctor beamed.

"That's genius!" Star corrected. "I see why he likes you."

"Why did we never think of that?" the Doctor turned to the new him.

"Because you two... were just Time Lords! You dumbos. Lacking that little bit of Human, that gut instinct that goes hand-in-hand with planet Earth. I could think of ideas that you two couldn't dream of in a million years! Ah, the universe has been waiting for me! Now... let's send that trip-stitch all over the ship. Did I ever tell you…" she gestured to herself. "Best temp in Chiswick?" she wiggled her fingers in typing motions. "100 words per minute."

"Ha!" the new Doctor laughed.

The Time Lords got to work as the Daleks continued to cry for help.

"Come on then, we've got 27 planets to send home." Donna continued.

"I've actived the magnetron." Star informed them.

"Stop it at once!" Davros called out.

Jack ran inside the TARDIS and appeared moments later with two guns. "Mickey!" he threw one to the man who caught it.

"You will desist!"

Mickey pointed his gun at Davros face. "Just stay where you are, Mr."

"Out of the way!" Jack laughed kicking a Dalek, sending it spinning down a corridor.

They heard Sarah Jane and Rose greeting each other, taking care of some more Daleks.

"Ready?" Donna asked the Time Lords. "And reverse!" she and the Doctors eased out two rods each as Star typed in the commands.

"Off you go, Clom." The Doctor smiled.

"Back home, Adipose three." The new Doctor added.

Donna flicked two switched and one with her foot. "Shallacatop!"

"Pyrovillia!" Star nodded.

"Lost Moon of Poosh. Topping. Ha!"

"Ha!" the new Doctor mimicked.

"We need more power…" the Doctor muttered.

"Is anyone gonna tell us what's going on?" Rose asked, as she and the other wondered over.

Donna gestured to the Doctor. "He poured all his regeneration energy into his spare hand; I touched the hand…" she gestured to the new Doctor. "He grew out of that, but that fed back into me. But, it just stayed dormant in my head 'til the synapses got that little extra spark, kicking them into life. Thank you, Davros! Part Human... part Time Lord. And I got the best bit of the Doctor." The new Doctor raised his eyebrows at her. "I got his mind."

"So there's THREE of you?" Sarah Jane frowned.

"Three Doctors?" Rose confirmed. "And one Time Lady?"

"I can't tell you what I'm thinking right now." Jack remarked.

"And I though one Doctor was too many." Star grimaced.

"Oi!" the Doctor laughed, she gave him a small playful smirk. He sobered quickly and looked at Donna. "You're so unique that the timelines were converging on you. Human Being with a Time Lord brain."

"But you promised me, Dalek Caan. Why did you not forsee this?" they turned hearing Davros.

"But he did." Star commented. "Something's been manipulating the timeline. Getting us all here for the right time, especially Donna."

"This would always have happened. I only helped, Star." Caan giggled.

"Like how you just happened to be near me in Arcadia. Knowing I'd go after you, just before you emergency temporal shifted away. Taking me with you."

"You..." Davros gaped. "Betrayed the Daleks?"

"I SAW the Daleks. What we have done throughout time and space. I saw the truth of us, Creator, and I decreed 'No more.'"

Star glanced at the Doctor, who tensed slightly at the words.

"I will descend in the vault!" the Supreme Dalek shouted.

"Heads up!" Jack remarked as the Supreme descended.

"Davros, you have betrayed us."

"It was Dalek Caan." Davros blamed.

"The vault will be purged! You will all be exterminated!" he shot towards the central column causing sparks to fly.

"Like I was saying." Jack continued. "Feel this!" he blasted the Supreme Dalek in half.

"Oh, we've lost the magnetron!" the Doctor exclaimed as he examined the column. "And there's only one planet left oh." He laughed. "Guess which one."

"We can use the TARDIS, cant we?" Star asked.

"Yes he can." He grinned at her before running into the TARDIS.

"Holding Earth stability…" the new Doctor mumbled as he flicked some switches. "Maintaining atmospheric shell."

"The prophesy mist complete." Caan called over.

"Don't listen to him." Davros sounded as though his was begging.

"I have seen the end of everything Dalek, and you must make it happen, Doctor."

"He's right." The new Doctor looked up. "Because with our without a Reality Bomb, this Dalek Empire's big enough to slaughter the cosmos. They've got to be stopped!"

"That's genocide!" Star glared at him.

"Just…just wait for the Doctor." Donna tried.

He looked up at Donna, ignoring Stars' comment. "I am the Doctor." He went back to work. "Maximising Dalekanium power feeds. Blasting them BACK!" one by one, the Doctor explode, screaming.

"Doctor…!" Star shouted into the TARDIS, she trailed off as she saw the inside of the TARDIS, a Type 40, and she was beautiful, such a beauty.

"What?" the Doctor ran over, eyes wide. They ran back out. "What have you done?"

"Fulfilling the prophesy." The new Doctor replied, solemn.

"Do you know what you've done? Now, get in the TARDIS!" the new Doctor went inside. "Everyone! All of you inside run! In, in, in, in, in!"

The new Doctor stood at the door ushering them all in.

"Star, in." she stood in the door way, not taking her eyes off him, just to ensure he wouldn't stay behind for some stupid reason. "Davros?" He held out his hand. "Come with me! I promise I can safe you!"  
"Never forget, Doctor." Davros shouted through the flames. "YOU did this, I name YOU, forever, YOU are the Destroyer of Worlds!" he screamed as the flames engulfed him.

"One will still die." Caan giggled.

"Doctor…" Star called to him and he ran back inside, she slammed the door behind her, into the crowded console room, she stiffened at how crowded it was and then she realised that this regeneration didn't like crowds of people or getting too close to them.

"And! Off we go!" the Doctor grinned as he pulled a lever. The TARDIS shuddered and they were all knocked around, hanging to the console for support, except for Star who hung back at the railing.

"But what about the Earth?" Sarah Jane shook her head. "It's stuck in the wrong part of space!"

"We're on it." he looked over at Star. "Are we?" he had to check; she'd been stuck on the planet for all her life, has most likely never been in a TARDIS before and didn't know any of these humans.

"I'll help were I can." She gave a small nod.

He grinned at her as he turned the monitor on. "Torchwood Hub, this is the Doctor. Are you receiving me?"

"Loud and clear." a welsh woman answered as she and a man appeared. "Is Jack there?"

He glanced at Jack. "Can't get rid of him. What was her name?"

"Gwen Cooper." He told him.

"Tell me, Gwen Cooper; are you from an old Cardiff family?"

"Yes." She frowned, confused as to why that was important. "All the way back to the 1800's."

"Mm, thought so!" he nodded, gesturing Rose over. "Spatial genetic multiplicity…"

"Oh, Yeah!" Rose grinned.

"Yeah, yeah! It's a funny old world!"

Star rolled her eyes at him and took charge. "Torchwood, we want you to open up that Rift Manipulator, send all the power to us."

"How do you know of the Rift Manipulator?" the man asked.

"Time Lady."

The two on screen nodded. "Doing it now, ma'am."

"Star." she corrected. "It's Star. not the Star like the Doctor. Just Star.

"What's that for?" Martha asked.

"It's a tow-rope."

"Now, then, Sarah." The Doctor turned to the woman. "What was your son's name?"

"Luke." She called, coming over. "He's called Luke. And the computers called Mr Smith."

"Calling Luke and Mr Smith!" he grinned as the boy jumped up and walked closer to the computer. "Come on, Luke, shake a leg!"

"Is mum there?" was the first thing he asked. Something Star found very sweet.

"Oh, she's fine and dandy."

"Yes!" Sarah Jane laughed in relief. "Yes!"

"Now, Mr Smith, I want you to harness the Rift power and loop it round the TARDIS, you got that?"

"I regret I will need remote access to TARDIS base code numerals." Mr Smith stated.

"That'll take a while." Star sighed.

Sarah Jane darted round to the screen. "No, no, no. let me! K9, out you come!"  
"Affirmative, Mistress!" a small, metallic dog appeared in the attic.

"Awww." Star cooed at the dog

"Oh, good dog." The Doctor cheered. "K9 give Mr Smith the base code."  
"Master." K9 nodded his head slightly and rolled over to Mr Smith.

"TARDIS base code now being transferred. The process is simple."

"_Think they can handle it?" _he slipped into Gallifreyan and turned to Star.

"_How should I know?"_ she shrugged. _"Can't be worse than you."_ She smirked as he pouted.

"Now you lot." He spun to face them all. "Sarah, hold that." He directed her back to where she stood before. "And Mickey." He patted the mans shoulder. "You hold that. Because, you know why this TARDIS is always rattling about the place? Rose, that, there." He indicated to a knob. "It was designed to have six pilots and I have to do it single handed. But not anymore." He winked at Star.

"Martha, yeah?" She pointed at her as she nodded. "Keep that level."

"Jack, there you go, steady that. Now we can fly this thing…" he spotted Jackie and hesitated.

Star rolled her eyes, she could tell she would be doing that a lot in this regeneration, and walked over. "Why don't you take a seat?" she smiled sweetly at the woman who gladly sat down.

"Like it's meant to be flown! We've got the Torchwood Rift looped around the TARDIS by Mr Smith. We're gonna fly planet Earth back home." He took his place at the console. "Right, then! Off we go." His hand hovered over a lever. "Star. Do the honours!" he grinned at her. She laughed and dashed over, pulling the lever.

The matacrisis Doctor and Donna wondered around the console keeping an eye on everyone as Star hung back a small, slightly sad smile on her face. All these people knew each other, whereas she only knew the Doctor, and she didn't make a great first impression, so she though it best to hang back.

The room barely shook as the TARDIS was flown how she was meant to. Everyone cheered and clapped as the Earth was put back where it belonged.

The Doctor walked around the console, congratulating his companions before he made his way over to Star and grinned, pulling her into a massive hug, she tensed and pulled away, muttering that she didn't do hugs, she turned away from him as Rose came over a hugged him.

~.~

The TARDIS materialised at a park, church bells ringing in the distance.

The Doctor stepped out with Sarah Jane Smith, Star following, not wanting to be left in the crowded room.

"You know you act like such a lonely man," Sarah Jane remarked, "but look at you! You've got the biggest family in the universe. And you've got your daughter." She smiled before she suddenly stiffened, "gotta go!" she began backing up, "He's only 14! And thank you!" she waved as she ran off.

"I TOLD you, no teleport." The Doctor said to Jack as he soniced the man Vortex Manipulator. "And Martha, get rid of that Osterhagen thing, eh? Save the world one more time."

"Consider it done." Martha smiled and nodded. The humans saluted the Doctor who saluted back. They nodded at Star and then they turned and walked off.

At that moment Mickey emerged. "Oi!" the Doctor called to him "Where are you going?"

"Well, I'm not stupid." Mickey laughed. "I can work out what happens next. And hey, I had a good time in that parallel world but my gran passed away. Nice and peaceful. Spent her last years living in a mansion. There's nothing there for me, now. Certainly not Rose."

"What will you do?"

"Anything! Brand new life. Just you watch." They fist bumped. "See you, boss. Nice meeting you Star." he winked at her.

"And you," she winked back.

He laughed and ran to catch up with Jack and Martha. "Hey, you two!"

The Doctor wrapped an arm around Star.

However, she gently moved his arm of her, "please don't do that."

He dropped his arm sadly but nodded anyway as they headed back inside. "There's time for one last trip. Dårlig Ulv Stranden."

"Um, I'm just going to find the wardrobe and find something better to wear." Star gestured to her uniform. He nodded as Donna showed her the way.

~.~

They came back not much later, very quick in the Doctors opinion. She now had her hair in a French braid, a few piece of hair sticking up as they weren't long enough to fit the braid, a lilac bat-wing sleeved shirt, a pair of light blue bell bottom jeans, and a pair of white lace footless sandals. She soon found out that she hated shoes, much to Donna's dismay.

"There's time for one last trip. Dårlig Ulv Stranden." He pulled a lever. "Better known as..."

~.~

The TARDIS materialised on a sandy beach. Jackie exited first, followed by the new Doctor, and Rose, who looked around, finding the place familiar.

"Ugh, fat lot of good this is!" Jackie remarked in disgust. "Back of beyond, bloody Norway! I'm gonna have to phone your father. He's on the nursery run." She turned to the new Doctor. "I was pregnant, do you remember? Had a baby boy!"

"Ah, brilliant!" he grinned. "What did you call him?"

"Doctor."

"…really?"

"No, you plum." She laughed at him. "He's called Tony!"

"Hold on." Rose turned to the Doctor. "This is the parallel universe, right?"

"You're back home." He nodded.

"And the walls of the world are closing again... now that the Reality Bomb never happened." Donna added. "It's dimension retroclosure." She looked at the new Doctor and smiled. "See, I really get that stuff now."

"No, but I spent all that time trying to find you, I'm not going back now!" Rose cried, close to tears.

The Doctor stepped forwards. "But you've got to. Because we saved the universe, but at a cost. And the cost is him." He nodded to the other him. "He destroyed the Daleks. He committed genocide. He's too dangerous to be left on his own."

"You made me!" the new Doctor defended.

"Exactly, you were born in battle, full of blood and anger and revenge. Remind you of someone?" he asked her. "That's me. When we first met. And you made me better. And now you can do the same for him."

"Is it because of her?!" Rose glared at Star as she stood next to the Doctor.

She blinked in surprise. "What did I do?"

"It is isn't it? When I first came back, you were so happy, but the she arrived and now you don't want me."

"Don't you dare blame her!" the Doctor narrowed his eyes at her causing Rose to flinch.

"No, it's alright." Star stepped forwards, "Why do you think I did anything?"

"You appeared and then he went to hate me, if you were never here then he wouldn't send me back."

"So, you're saying that it's my fault that he's taking you back to where you belong?!" She started to raise her voice. "Because you belong here now, you live in this universe, no ours. Even if I wasn't here you would still have to come back here." Rose just continued to glare at her. "So DON'T blame me!" she flashed her eyes at her, causing her to step back in shock and fear as Star turned back muttering about anger issues. The Doctor tried to wrap an arm around her but she shouldered it off and stepped further apart. Always with a temper and now it seemed she didn't like people touching her. Great.

"But don't you see what he's trying to give you?" Donna cut in, stopping the argument. "Tell her, go on." She nodded to the new Doctor.

Rose turned to him as he looked at her. "I look like him and I think like him... same memories, same thoughts, same everything. Except, I've only got one heart."

"Which means?"

"I'm part Human. Specifically the aging part. I'll grow old and never regenerate. I've only got one life... Rose Tyler. I could spend it with you. If you want."

"You'll grow…grow old at the same time as me?"

"Together." He nodded.

Rose placed a hand on his chest listening to his single heartbeat. The TARDIS started to grind.

"We've gotta go." Star said quietly. "This reality's sealing itself off."

The Doctor, Star and Donna turned and headed into the TARDIS.

"Last time I stood on this beach." Rose called after them. "On the worst day of my life. "What was the last thing you said to me?" he looked at the Doctor.

"I said 'Rose Tyler'" he shrugged thinking nothing off it.

"Yeah and how was that sentence going to end?"

"It doesn't need saying."

"And you, Doctor?" she turned to the new Doctor. "What was the end of that sentence?"

He whispered something into her ear and she immediately pulled him into a deep kiss.

They hurried into the TARDIS and dematerialised.

~.~

Donna adjusted the monitor. "I thought we could try the planet Felspoon... just 'cos. What a good name, 'Felspoon'. Apparently it's got mountains that sway in the breeze. Mountains that move. Can you imagine?" she twisted some knobs for no reason.

"And how do you know that?" the Doctor asked quietly.

"Because it's in your head! And if it's in your head, it's in mine."

"How does that feel?"

"Brilliant! Fantastic! Molto bene! Great bit of universe packed into my brain. You know you could fix that chameleon circuit if you just try and hotbind in the fragment links and superseding the binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary…" she took a deep breath. "Im fine! Nah, never-mind Felspoon. You know who I'd like to meet? Charlie Chaplin. I've heard he's great, Charlie Chaplin. Shall we do that? Shall we go and see Charlie Chaplin?" she picked up the phone. "Shall we? Charlie Chaplin? Charlie Chester, Charlie Brown. No, he's fiction, friction, fiction, fixen, mixen, rixten, Brixton…" she gasped and doubled over in pain. "Oh, my God." She held her head in pain.

"Do you know what's happening?"

She swallowed not wanting to admit it. "Yeah."  
"There's never been a Human-Time Lord metacrisis before now. And you know why."

"Because there can't be." She looked down at the console, pretending to be busy. "I want to stay."  
"Look at me." She didn't look. "Donna, look at me."

She finally looked at him. "I was gonna be with you... forever."

"I know." He whispered to her gently.

"The rest of my life... travelling... in the TARDIS. The Doctor-Donna." After a moment it dawned on her. "Oh my God." She backed away, tears in her eyes. "I can't go back. Don't make me go back. Doctor... please. Please, don't make me go back."

"Donna. Oh, Donna Noble. I am so, so sorry." He looked directly into her eyes, as she trembled. "But we had the best of times. The best." Tears fell down her cheeks. "Goodbye."

"No. No, please! Please! No, NO! No!" Donna cried growing frantic as he placed her fingertips on the woman temples she slumped forwards as she fell unconscious, the Doctor keeping her up.

Star piloted them to Donnas house as the Doctor told her where it was.

~.~

He hammered on the door, crouching down, with Donna in his arms, crying for his friend, Star crouched next to him, offering as much comfort as she could.

An old man opened the door. "Help me." He looked up at the man, urgently.

"Donna?" he bent down to his granddaughter. "Donna?"

They laid her down on her bed as she slept peacefully.

"She took my mind into her own head." The Doctor explained to Donna's mother and grandfather, he'd told them who the Star was of course. "But that's a Time Lord consciousness." He sat on the sofa, Stars head on his shoulder, Donna's mother, Sylvia and grandfather, Wilf on the other sofa. "All that knowledge, it was killing her."

"But she'll get better, now?" Wilf asked, hopeful.

"We had wipe her mind." The Star stated. "Every trace of the TARDIS, of everything she saw, everywhere she went, gone."

"All those wonderful things she did."

"I know. But that version of Donna is dead." The Doctor leaned forwards, needing them to understand how serious the situation was. "Because if she remembers, just for a second, she'll burn up. You can never tell her." There was a rumble of thunder outside. "You can't mention me, or any of it... for the rest of her life."

"But the whole world's talking about it." Sylvia exclaimed. "We travelled across space!"

"It'll just be a story. One of those Donna Noble stories, where she missed it all again."

"But she was better with you!" Wilf cried, clearly upset.

"Don't say that…" Sylvia shook her head.

"No, she was!"  
"I just want you to know that there are worlds out there, safe in the sky, because of her." The Doctor told them, softly. "That there are people living in the light, singing songs of Donna Noble, a thousand million light-years away... they will never forget her. While she can never remember. And for one moment... one shining moment... she was the most important woman in the whole wide universe."

"She still is." Sylvia answered shortly. "She's my daughter."

"Make sure she knows that." The Star glared at the woman.

They hard footsteps coming down the stairs and a moment later Donna barged in, "I was asleep, ON my bed, IN my clothes, like a flippin' kid! What did you let me do that for?!" she casted a quick glanced at the Doctor and Star. "Don't mind me. Donna."

They stood up. "John Smith." He shook her hand.

"Nicola Smith." Star added, the first name that came to her head.

"They were just leaving." Sylvia casted a harsh glance at them.

"My phone's gone mad!" Donna laughed, not noticing the tension. "32 texts, Veena's gone barmy, she's saying planets in the sky, WHAT have I missed now?" she headed back out the room with a small, "nice to meet you." Over her shoulder.

"Like I said: I think you should go." Sylvia repeated, coldly.

"Let us say goodbye first." Star shot back.

They headed to the kitchen where Donna was on the phone, "How thick do you think I am? Planets?! I'll tell you what that was, dumbo, that's those two-for-one lagers you get down the offy 'cos you fancy that little man in there with the goatee. Haha! Yes, you do! I've SEEN ya!"  
"Donna?" the Doctor called as they appeared at the doorway. "We were just going."

"Yeah, see ya." She said back, not really bothered.

The Time Lords headed out the front door, realising that that was all the goodbye they would get.

"You'll have quite a bit of this." Star told Wilf as he followed them to the door, he stopped at the doorway as the Time Lords stepped out into the storm. "Atmospheric disturbance. Still, it'll pass."

"Everything does." The Doctor muttered to himself. "By then, Wilfred."

"Nice meeting you." Star added.

"Oh, Doctor, Star." they turned back to him. "What about you, now? Who've you got? I mean, all those friends of yours...?"

"They've all got someone else." He shrugged him off. "Still, that's fine. I'm fine, we're fine, we have each other." Star gave him a small comforting smile.

"I'll watch out for you."

"You can't ever tell her." She stressed.

"No, no, no. But every night... when it gets dark... and the stars come out... I'll look up. On her behalf. I'll look up at the sky and think of you."

"Thank you." The Doctor whispered, as he and the Star walked back to the TARDIS.

~.~

They dematerialised into the vortex in silence.

"We need to talk," Star broke the uncomfortable silence that surrounded them.

"Yeah." He agreed, knowing exactly what about, which was why his voice came out so quietly like a whisper.

"But…I want the truth."

"Promise." He crossed his hearts.

~.~

The father and daughter sat opposite each other in large armchairs in front of the fire in the overly large library, both holding long-ago-cold mugs.

The Doctor watched her intently as she lifted the cold mug to her lip, she had completely forgotten she had had it while he had been speaking so the mug was half full of cold tea, she spat it back into the mug as she realised how cold it was.

He told how why he left the planet in the first place, he'd had an argument with the Master and it just…he just wanted to get away. And he'd left her on the planet because he wanted her safe, he swore he was going to come back for her graduation and then they'd together. But then of course the war came so that plan went out the window.

He'd also told her about what he had done during the war. Time-locking the planet. He was thankful that she understood why he had to do it. She'd agreed with him that it was the only option, for the universe.

"Ok." She nodded. What else was there to say really?

"And…you?" he asked carefully, knowing that she would know exactly what he was trying to say.

"Im insane," she brought her knees up to her chest, "So go on then, throw me into a black hole or something."

"Why would I do that?" he frowned, utterly confused by why she would say that, "I just got you back, you're not going anywhere."

Her eyes lit up as she looked at him, "Really? You're not angry?"

He shrugged, "Can't be helped. But…do try to keep control."

"Don't worry. I will." It not like she wanted to be insane, seeing those people at the Academy get taken away, never to be spoken off again. She kept to herself to herself, eventually shut herself away from family and friends. Drowning in her own sorrows and pain, hating herself, she knew it wasn't the smartest thing to do. Time Lords kept their eyes on those who began to act differently, that was how they knew if someone was insane but they hadn't noticed anything. Except Rassilon, during the war, he had forced everyone who was still in the academy to regenerate, hoping that doing that and teaching them how to fight would give him soldier who would help him win, he forced her to fight harder than anyone else, knowing that she was insane and he was pushing her darkness out, using her as a weapon against the Daleks.

**Hope you enjoyed the first chapter, next one will be...soon.**

**I pictured the old Star in her third regeneration to look like Maisie Williams and the forth t looked like Chloe Grace Moretz, cover will be uploaded next chapter.**

**Please review :)**


	2. The next Doctor

The Doctor grinned as he pulled lever as soon as Star entered the console room.

"Where we going?" she asked, they'd been on a few adventures now but the excitement was still there and she knew it always would be, it was so exciting to go to so many different places.

"Come and see..." he opened the doors for her and she stepped outside into the snow where the TARDIS materialised under a bridge. She grinned, wiggling her feet getting used to the sudden drop in temperature beneath her feet. The Doctor closed the doors behind him.

Star turned back to him. "Is it...Christmas?" she always loved the Earth holiday.

"Yup." he grinned popping the 'p'. "But, first things first. Rules."

"Let me guess," she rolled her eyes, "no changing history, no getting involved in important events. And most importantly no running off."

He pouted, he wanted to say the rules to her, "Come on, then," he gently pulled her off, walking down the snowy road, laughing, just happy to be with each other. They walked through a busy street market. The stalls covered with green garlands and ribbons. Mistletoe was everywhere and chestnuts. A few people sung carols.

"You there, boy." the Doctor walked over to a young boy who was selling paper. "What day is it?"

"Christmas Eve, sir."

"What year!"

"You thick or something."

Star rolled her eyes. "Very thick, so answer his question."

"Year of our lord, 1851, ma'am."

"Thank you."

"Right." the Doctor nodded. "Nice year. Bit dull."

"DOCTOR!" a woman screamed in the distance, the two of them glanced at each other, looking around to see where the noise came from. "Doctor!"

"Who, me?" the Doctor gestured to himself.

"Are you the Doctor?" Star countered, he grinned at her and they ran off, the woman was still shouting so all they had to do was follow the shouts.

~.~

They ran down into a ally, where they spotted a black woman dressed in a period dress nervously backing away from some large bolted doors.

"Doctor!" she continued to shouted, her eyes locked on the doors.

"OK, I've got it." the Doctor reassured her. "Whatever's behind that door, I think you should get out of here."

"Doctor!"

"No." he frowned. "I'm standing right here. Hello." He gave her a small wave.

"Don't be so stupid, who are you?"

"Im the Doctor."

"Doctor who?" the woman eyed him.

"Just...the Doctor."

"Well, there can't be two of ya." Just then a man in period clothing ran over. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Don't worry." He smiled. "Stand back. What have we got here, then?"

"Who are you?" Star frowned.

"I'm the Doctor. Simply the Doctor. The one, the only and the best. Rosita, give me the sonic screwdriver."  
The woman handed him something.

"What?" the Doctor gaped.

"Now quickly, get back to the TARDIS."

"Back to the what?"

"Stand back, sir. Ma'am. This is a job for a Time Lord."

"Job for a what Lord?" the doors burst open revealing a shaggy, furry body creature. Star eyed widened in horror as it had a face similar to a Cyberman. "Oh, that's different." He reached into his pocket.

"Oh, that new…" the other Doctor agreed.

They both aimed their sonics at the creature, both crying, "Allons-y", then glanced at each other.

"I've been hunting this beast for a good fortnight. Now step back, sir." The other Doctor remarked. "Now step back, sir. Ma'am."

The creature leapt over them and clung to the wall behind them, looking down at them.

"Some sort of primitive conversion." The Doctor muttered, "Like they took the brain of a cat or a dog."

"A dog." Star nodded, it reminded her more of a dog than a cat.

"Well, talking's all very well." The other Doctor mumbled, holding out his hand. "Rosita."

"Im ready." The woman nodded, handing him a rope which he swung around his head like a lasso.

"Now, watch and learn." He threw the rope and it caught the creature, "Excellent. Now then, let's pull this timorous beastie down to earth…"

Before anything else could happen the creature scurried up the wall, taking the other Doctor with him as he refused to get go.

"Or not." The Doctor mumbled.

"I might be in a little trouble." The other Doctor called down.

"Nothing changes, I've got you." The Doctor grabbed hold of the robe and was also pulled up the building.

"Oh, come on!" Star groaned.

"You idiots!" Rosita grumbled.

Star shook her head as she ran for the stairs at the side of the building. She heard the two men arguing as she ran, she hopped through a small window into the room as the creature dragged the two men off, she looked around for something she could use and spotted a hammer leaning up against the wall, she grinned and grabbed it, running after them and threw it, it landed just behind the creature and before the Doctors, cutting the rope off sending the Doctors tumbling on the floor.

They groaned as the stood up, and hugged and laughed. As the females walked over, Rosita having followed Star up the stairs.

"You're welcome." Star mock-bowed. "Saved your backs."

"We're handling it just fine." The Doctor defended.

"You were about to fall out of the window after the Cybershade." If she was correct and she knew she was with the amount of research she did on Mondas and the Cybermen she knew it was a Cybershade.

The small group walked down the stairs, the Doctors still laughing at how they almost fell out the window.

"Well, I'm glad you think it's so funny." Rosita snapped at them. "You're mad. Both of you. You could've got killed."

"But, evidently, we did not." The other Doctor countered. "Oh, I should introduce Rosita. My faithful companion, always telling me off."

"Well, they do, don't they?" the Doctor grinned. "Rosita? Good name. Hello, Rosita." He held out a hand for her to shake.

"Huh. Now I'll have to go and dismantle the traps." She huffed after a brief handshake. "All that for nothing. And we've only got 20 minutes till the funeral, don't forget." She turned and walked off. "Then back to the TARDIS, right?"

"Funeral?" Star frowned at the other Doctor.

"Oh, long story. Not my own, not yet." he bent over. "Oooh, I'm not as young as I was."

"Well, not as young as you were when you were me." The Doctor laughed.

"When I was who?"

"You really don't recognise me?"

"Not at all."

"What about Star." surely the man who seemed to be the next him would know who she is at least.

"But you're The Doctor." Star cut in, seeing as the man looked at them, clearing not recognising them.

"Well the next Doctor." The Doctor corrected. "Or the next-but-one. A future Doctor anyway. No, no, don't tell me how it happened. Although...I hope I don't just trip over a brick, that'd be embarrassing." He grimaced at the thought. "Then again, painless. Worse ways to go depends on the brick."

"You're gabbling, sir." The other Doctor interrupted. "Now, might I ask, who are you, exactly?"

"No, I'm, uh... I'm just Smith. John Smith." The Doctor introduced, shaking the other man hand. "And this is…"

"Nicola Smith." She hesitantly held out her own hand, tensing when he shook it.

"My daughter." He beamed. "But we've heard all about you, Doctor. Bit of a legend, if I say so myself."

"Modesty forbids me to agree with you, sir." The other Doctor smiled, smugly. "But yes. Yes, I am."

"Legend with certain memories missing. Am I right?"

"How do you know that?"

"You've forgotten us."

"Great swathes of my life have been stolen away." The other Doctor nodded. "When I turn my mind to the past, there's nothing."

"How far back?" Star inquired.

"Since the Cybermen. Masters of that hellish wall-scuttler and old enemies of mine, now at work in London town. You won't believe this, Mr Smith, Miss Smith but they are creatures from another world."

"No way." Star replied heavily sarcastic, full of discomfort about the fact of Cybermen giving what they have done in the past.

"Really…?" the Doctor tried to sound shocked. "Wow."

"It's said they fell onto London, out of the sky in a blaze of light. And they found me." The other Doctor continued, not noticing the fake reactions. "Something was taken. And something was lost." He looked up at them, realising that they must have known him. "What was I like? In the past?"

"We shouldn't say. Sorry." Star shrugged as though it was nothing. "Memory loss it tricky business."  
"It's strange, though. I talk of Cybermen from the stars and you don't blink. Either of you."

"Im very optimistic."

"Ah, don't blink, remember that?" the Doctor smiled. "Whatever you do, don't blink? The blinking and the statues? Sally and the angels? No?"

Star blinked at him, one day she would force him to tell her everything he'd seen since he left the planet, she wasn't there, she wanted to know how much trouble he gotten into.

"You're a very odd man." The other Doctor eyed him.

"Hmm, I still am. Something's wrong here."

"Oh, the funeral." The other Doctor suddenly remembered. "The funeral's at two o'clock. It's been a pleasure, Mr Smith, Miss Smith. Don't breathe a word of it."

"Can't we come with you?"

"It's far dangerous, especially for a child."

"Im not a child!" Star huffed.

"Rest assure, I shall keep this city safe. Oh and, er... merry Christmas, Mr Smith, Miss Smith." He walked off.

"Merry Christmas, Doctor." The Doctor and Star followed him.

"Can't be you." Star shook her head.

~.~

The Doctor and Star snuck after the other Doctor and Rosita, as they stood outside the deceased Reverend Fairchild. They watched as the other Doctor ordered Rosita to the TARDIS saying that it was no place for a woman, much to Stars anger on the whole idea.

They snuck in through the front door; they heard a hustling as though someone was trying to get in with a screwdriver, coming from the back door.

"Hello." The Doctor grinned as he opened the door, revealing the other Doctor trying to get in.

"Us again." Star waved.

"How did you get in?" the other Doctor demanded.

"Front door." Star shrugged as though it was obvious. "wasn't hard."

"Um, do you mind my asking?" The Doctor frowned. "Is that your sonic screwdriver?"

"Yeah." He held up a regular screwdriver. "I'd be lost with out it."

"But, that's a screwdriver. How's it sonic?"

"Well, er, it makes a noise." he tapped it against the doorframe. "That's sonic, isn't it? Now, since we're acting like common burglars, I suggest we get out of plain view." He pushed past and closed the door behind him.

They headed down the hall towards the library to see it decorated for Christmas. The other Doctor went straight for the mans desk and searched the draws not at all bothered by the fact that said man was now dead.

"What are you actually investigating?" Star had to ask.

"It started with a murder." He answered.

"Oh, good." The Doctor nodded. But winced as Star slapped his arm. "I mean bad, but whose?"

"Mr Jackson Lake, a teacher of mathematics from Sussex. He came to London 3 weeks ago and died a terrible death."

"Cybermen?" Star guessed, feeling her anger for the metal men slowly rise.

"It's hard to say, his body was never found. But then it started. More secret murders. Then abductions. Children…stolen away in silence."

"So whose house is this?" the Doctor asked.

The other Doctor moved to search the book rack. "The latest murder. The Reverend Aubrey Fairchild. Found with burns to his forehead, like some advance form of electrocution."

"But who was he, was he important?"

"You two ask a lot of questions." He turned to the Doctor.

"We're your companions." He grinned.

"The Reverend was the pillar of community, a member of many perish boards. A keen advocate of children's charities."

"Children again." Star murmured.

"But why would the Cybermen want him dead?" the Doctor wondered. "And what's his connection to the first death, this Jackson Lake?"

"Its funny." the other Doctor remarked. "I seem to be telling you everything. As though you engendered some sort of...trust."

"I just have one of those faces." Star shrugged. She didn't know why but she didn't trust the man, she had tried to read his mind, she had found out during her time in the Academy that she could read minds if she concentrated but she couldn't read his anymore than she can with a human.

"You seem familiar, Mr Smith. I know your face. But how?"

"I wonder." the Doctor frowned. "I can't help noticing you're wearing a fob watch."

"Is that important?" he blinked at them.

"Legends says that it hold memories of a Time Lord can be contained within" Star added.

"May I?" the Doctor held out he hands as the other Doctor handed the watch to him. "It's said that if it's open..." he opened it and the working fell to the ground, no Time Lord mind. "Oh, maybe not."

"It's for decoration."

"Yeah. Anyway, alien infiltration."

"Look for anything different." The other Doctor instructed, as they began to search the room. "Possibly metal. Anything that doesn't belong, perhaps a mechanical device that could fit no earthly engine."

The Doctor pulled out the sonic and unlocked a locked desk.

"It could even seem to be organic, but unlike any organism of the natural world. Shh! What's that noise?"

The Doctor put the sonic back in his pocket. "Oh, it's just me…whistling." He imitated the Sonics buzzing as best he could. "I wonder what's in here though." He opened the desk he just unlocked. "Ah." he pulled out a metal cylinder. "Different and metal, you were right. They are infostamps."

"At a guess, anyway." Star quickly added as the other Doctor looked at them suspiciously.

"Um, if I were you. I'd say they worked something like this." He pressed on end of the cylinder and images projected onto the wall from the other end. "See? Compressed information. Tons of it." he put his glasses on. "That is the history of London, 1066 to the present day. This is like a disk, a Cyberdisk."

"But why would the Cybermen need something so simple?" Star frowned.

"They've gotta be wireless. Unless…"

"Unless they're in the wrong century. Might not have much power."

"They need plain old basic infostamps to update themselves." He looked over at the other Doctor to see him collapsed in a chair. "Are you all right?"

"Im fine." He breathed.

"You're lying." Star remarked, walking over. "What's wrong? Tell us."

"I've seen one of these before. I was holding…this device the might I lost my mind. The night I regenerated. The Cybermen, they made me change. My mind, my face, my whole self. And you were there." He looked up at the Doctor. "Who are you?"

"A friend." He held up his hands. "I swear. Nicola and I, we're friends."  
"Then I beg you, John. Help me."

"Ah." the Doctor smiled. "Two words I never refuse. But it's not a conversation for a dead man's house. It'll make more sense if we go back to the TARDIS…your TARDIS. Hold on, I just need to do a final check. Wont take a tick." He began opening doors. "There's one more thing I cannot figure. If this room's got infostamps, then maybe, just maybe, it's got something that needs infostamping." He trailed of a one door. "Ok."

"Time to run?" Star guessed, she knew that tone, he'd found a Cyberman.

The Doctor ran back to Star and the other Doctor as there was a crash as the Cyberman shoved the door open. "Run!" he pushed the other Doctor ahead of him. "Now, Doctor!"

"Delete!" the Cyberman called after them as they ran into the hall only to be stopped by another Cyberman.

"The Doctor will be deleted!" the other Cyberman reached out for them.

"Stairs!" the Doctor shouted. "Can't lead them outside!"  
The other Doctor ran up the stairs as the Doctor looked for something that could be a weapon as Star merely glared at the metal men in absolute hatred.

"Delete!"

The Doctor flourished a sword at the Cybermen, literally having to drag Star behind him as she didn't move. "Im a dab hand with a cutlass. You don't want to come near me when I've got one of these. This is your last warning. No?" the Cybermen continued to advance. "Ok, this is really your last warning! Ok, I give up. Star up!" he ushered Star up and quickly followed.

"Delete!"

"Listen to me properly!" the Doctor backed up the stairs, keeping Star back as she fought to get back down. "Whatever you're doing stuck in 1851, I can help! Star and I are the only people in the world who can help you! Listen to me!" he used the cutlass to block the Cybers attacks.

"Delete!"

"Im the Doctor. You need me. Check your memory banks, my name's the Doctor. Leave this man alone! The Doctor is me! Star!" he shouted at her as she kicked a Cyberman back and then they both ran up the stairs.

"Delete!

"The Doctor, remember? Im the Doctor! You need me alive! You need the Doctor, and that's me!"

Suddenly a beam of shot out from behind them. The Cybermen fell to their knees and their head exploded.

"Awesome!" Star grinned.

"Infostamps with a cyclo-Steinham core. You ripped open the core and broke the safety, zap!" the Doctor chuckled. "Only the Doctor would think of that!"

"I did that…last time." The other Doctor muttered.

"Come here, you'll be ok. Let me just check." He pulled out his stethoscope.

"You told them you were the Doctor. Why did you do that?"

"Oh, I was just protecting you." He shrugged as he listened to the man heartbeat.

"You're trying to take away the only thin I've got, like they did. They stole something, something precious. But I can't remember. What happened to me? What did they do?"

"We'll find out." Star promised. "The three of us, together."

~.~

As the three of them walked into the barn they noticed Rosita pacing nervously. "Doctor!" She cried running over and hugging the other Doctor. "I thought you were dead!"

"Now then, Rosita. A little decorum." He waved her off.

"You've been gone for so long." She turned and spoke to the Doctor and Star. "He's always doing this, leaving me behind. Going frantic."

"I know the feeling." Star added under her breath.

The Doctor looked over at her sadly_. 'I'm sorry, Nova.'_ He whispered in her mind.

'_For all I knew you could have been dead.'_ Was her harsh reply.

He was upset but also relieved at the reply, why it did hurt him to see her hating him in such away it was also nice to see that she wasn't full on ignoring him and was filling up his empty mind if only slightly.

"What about the TARDIS?" the other Doctor asked, stopping his thoughts.

"Oh, she's ready. Come on." Rosita took his arm and led him off.

"Im looking forwards to this." The Doctor muttered to Star. "Are you?"

"She'd better not be better than our TARDIS," she replied.

"You were right though, Rosita." The other Doctor commented. "The Reverend Fairchild's death was the work of the Cybermen."

"So, you live here?" the Doctor asked.

"A temporary base, until we route the enemy. The TARDIS is magnificent, but it's hardly a home." He stepped into one of the stalls and proceeded to wash his face.

"So where's the TARDIS now?" Star asked, looking around.

"In the yard."

"Er…what's all this luggage?" the Doctor frowned.

"Evidence. The property of Jackson Lake, the first man to be murdered. Oh, but my new friends are fighters, Rosita, much like myself. He faced the Cybermen with a cutlass, while she proceeded to kick them and attack with her bare hands. Im not ashamed to say, they were braver than I." the Doctor Soniced some of the luggage. "They were quite brilliant. Are you whistling again?"

"Yes. Yes, I am, yeah."

Star noticed Rosita watching them and placed a finger to her lip, silencing her.

"That's another man property!" Rosita cried as the Doctor rummaged through a trunk.

"Well, a dead mans." He shrugged her off. "How did you two meet, then?"

"He saved my life. Late one night, by the Ostermans Wharf, this…creature came out of the shadows. A man made of metal. I thought I was gonna die. And then, there he was. The Doctor. Can you help him, sir? He has such terrible dreams. Wakes at night in such a state of terror."

"He's not the only one." Star murmured.

"Come now, Rosita." The other Doctor chuckled. "With all the things a Time Lord has seen, everything he's lost, he may surely have bad dreams."

"Yeah." The Doctor nodded. "Oh, now, luck. Jackson Lake had an infostamp."  
"But how? Is that significant?"

"Doctor." Star turned to the other Doctor. "The answer to all this is in your TARDIS. Could we see it?"

"Miss Smith, Mr Smith, it would be my honour." He led them out the back and into a yard where a large blue hot-air balloon sat in the middle, a young man stood beside it. "There she is! My transport though time and space. The TARDIS."

"You've got a balloon." The Doctor blinked in surprise.

"It's certainly something else." Star nodded slowly, not sure what else to say.

"TARDIS. T-A-R-D-I-S. It stands for Tethered Aerial Release Developed In Style. D'you see?"

"Well I do now." The Doctor agreed. "I like it. Good TARDIS. Brilliant. Nice one." He went to inspect it. "and it's inflated by gas, yeah?"

"We're adjacent to the Mutton Street Gasworks; I pay them a modest fee. Good work, Jed." He clapped the young mans shoulder.

"Glad to be of service, sir." He smiled back as the (other) Doctor handed him a number of notes.

"You've got quite a bit of money." Star noticed. "I assumed the Doctor wouldn't need any."

"Oh, you get nothing for nothing." The other Doctor let out a small laugh. "How's that ripped panel, Jed?"

"All repaired, should work a treat." Jed replied. "You never know, maybe tonight's the night, Doctor. Imagine it, seeing Christmas from above."

"Well, not just yet, I think. One day, I will ascend. One day soon."

"You've never actually been up?" the Doctor frowned.

"He dreams of leaving, but never does." Rosita remarked.

"I can depart, in the TARIDS, once London is safe." The other Doctor replied. "And finally, when im up there…think of it, John. The Time and Space."

"The perfect escape." Star smiled softly, looking up at the stars as she did so. "Do you ever wonder what you're escaping from?" she knew what she was escaping from. The pain of the past, the chance to except herself, to not live in fear, one day she would be free of herself.

"With every moment."  
"Then do you want me to tell you?" the Doctor asked. "'Cos I think I've worked it out now. How you became The Doctor. What do you think? Do you want to know?"

The other Doctor nodded, so they headed back inside and sat down on some crates next to Rosita, the Doctor and Star sitting opposite.

"The story begins with the Cyberman." The Doctor started. "A long time away, and not so far from here, the Cybermen were fought and they were beaten, and they were sent into a howling wilderness called The Void, locked inside forevermore. But then a greater battle rose up, so great that everything inside The Void perished." Star listened intrigued; knowing that is was most likely how Rose and her family ended up in the parallel universe. "But, as the walls of the world weakened, the last of the Cybermen must have fallen through the dimensions, back in time, to land here. And they found you."

"I fought them, I know that." The other Doctor nodded, as he listened, "But what happened?"

"At the same time, another man came to London. Mr Jackson Lake. Plenty of luggage, money in his pocket. Maybe coming to town for the winter season, I don't know. But he found the Cybermen too. And just like you, exactly like you, he took hold of an infostamp."

"But he's dead. Jackson Lake is dead. The Cybermen murdered him."

"You said his body was never found." Star corrected. "And you kept all his suitcases, but you could never bring yourself to open them. Why not?"

"I told you the answer was in the fob watch." The Doctor nodded at the watch. "Can I see?" the other Doctor reached out and handed the watch to the Doctor, who flipped it over to reveal the initials J.L. inscribed.

Rosita blinked, stunned before turning to the other Doctor or Jackson Lake as it seemed, "Jackson Lake is…you, sir?"

"But im the Doctor." Jackson insisted.

"You became the Doctor because the infostamp you picked up was a book about one particular man." He projected the infostamp onto the wall showing all of his previous regenerations. "The Cybermen's database. Stolen from the Daleks inside The Void, I'd say, but it's everything you could want to know about The Doctor."

Jackson stared at the wall, as the man before him appeared on the wall, "that's you."

"Time Lord, TARDIS, enemy of the Cybermen." He clicked his tongue. "The one and the only. You see? The infostamp must have backfired, streamed all that information about me right inside your head."

"Yeah and please don't call me Miss Smith again, its Star." Star added. "Just Star."

"I am nothing but a lie." Jackson whispered.

"No, no, no, no, no." the Doctor said quickly. "Infostamps are just facts and figures. All that bravery. Saving Rosita. Defending London town. Hmm? And the invention, building a TARDIS. That's all you."

"And what else? Tell me what else?"

"There's something missing, isn't there?"

"I demand you tell me, sir. Tell me what they took!"

"There is not need to snap." Star told the man sternly before taking a breath, "That's a lot of luggage for one man. An infostamp is plain technology. It's not enough to make a man lose his mind."

"What you suffered is called a fugue." The Doctor continued. "A fugue state. Where the mind just runs away, because it can't bear to look back. You wanted to become someone else, because Jackson Lake had lost so much."

"Midnight." Rosita breathed as a church bell ran in the distance. "Christmas day."

"I remember…" Jackson muttered. "Oh, my god…Caroline. They killed my wife. They killed her."

Rosita wrapped an arm around him as he started to cry over his loss.

The Doctor found another infostamps when there was a loud beeping sound, Star frowned and walked over to the trunk where the sound was coming from. "Oh…" the Doctor said as he followed Star as she opened the trunk. "You found a whole cache of infostamps."

"But what is it?" Rosita asked. "What's that noise?"

"Activation alarm." Star told her. "The Cybermen are moving!"

Star and the Doctor ran outside to see small children walking past. A man marched behind them, his face blank and two flashing ear-pieces on his ears.

"What is it? What happening?" Rosita appeared next to them. She noticed the old man, "that's Mr Cole. He's Master of the Hazel Street Workhouse. Maybe he's taking them to prayers."

"I doubt that." Star shook her head.

The Doctor moved to walk next to Mr Cole. "Can you hear me? Hello? Mr Cole, you seem to have something in your ear. Now this might hurt a bit, but if I can just…" he pulled the sonic out.

"Don't do that." Star hissed at him, snatching the sonic out of his hands, she motioned to the Cybershade's at the sides.

"They're on guard." He muttered. "Can't risk a fight. Not with the children."

"But where are they going?" Rosita frowned.

"All need a good whipping, if you ask me." Jed said as he joined them.

"Well no one asked you." Star glared at him. It was disgusting to think that he thought it was a good idea to whip innocent children.

"There's tons on 'em." He shrugged not at all put of by her glare. "I've just seen another lot coming form the Ingleby Workhouse down Broad back Lane."

"Where's that?" the Doctor asked Rosita.

"This way!" she led them though side streets until the came to another group of children being led by another man under control of the Cybermen. "There's dozens of 'em!"

"But what for?" Star wondered. "Why children?"

The Doctor glanced at her and took her hand in his, afraid that if he let go, the Cybers would get her. He knew that they couldn't use Time Lord, them not being compatible, but still he wanted to make sure she was there, still with him.

"You will continue." A man marched some more children up too a large set of wooden double doors. The doors opened and two Cybermen stepped forwards. "you will enter the Court of the CyberKing."

"No…" Star breathed, her hands clenching into fists, (well one of them, the other tightened its grip on the Doctors), though it wasn't in fear, it was in anger.

'_It's okay.'_ The Doctor assured her in her mind, giving her hand a squeeze.

'_No. Its. Not. You weren't there. You didn't know. Cybermen killed mother.'_

'_What?'_

'_They destroyed her shuttle._' She pulled her hand away from his and clenched it into a fist as he just stared at her in shock. That explained why she seemed to hate them so much.

The Doctor turned back to the Cybermen as one boy tried to escape but was herded back by a Cybershade.

"March." The man ordered. "That is an order. March!"

The children marched through the doors.

"That's the door to the sluice" Rosita informed them. "All the sewage runs through there straight into the Thames."

"Yeah, that's too well guarded." the Doctor remarked. "We'll have to find another way in."

They turned back to find another way in only to find their path blocked by two Cybermen.

"Whoa!" the Doctor frowned. "That's cheating, sneaking up! Did you have your legs on silent?"

A woman in a red dress walked up to them. "So…what do we have here?"

"Just walked towards me, slowly." The Doctor told her, assuming she clearly didn't know the danger she just got herself into. "Don't let them touch you."

"Doctor…" Star started, realising something was off about the woman.

"Oh, but they wouldn't hurt me, my fine boys." The woman cut her off, "they are my knights in shining armour. Quite literally."

"Even if they've converted you, that's not a Cyber speech pattern." The Doctor continued. "You've still got free will. Step away…"

"There's been no conversation, sir. No-ones ever been able to change my mind. The Cybermen offered me the one thing I wanted. Liberation."

"Who are you?" Rosita demanded.

"You can be quiet. I doubt he paid you to talk. More importantly, who are you, sir. With such intimate knowledge of my companions?"

"Like we'd tell you." Star glared at the same time the Doctor said, "Im the Doctor."

'_Do you actually have a brain?' _Star had to ask.

"Incorrect." One of the Cybermen stated, before the Doctor could answer Star. "You do not correspond to our image of the Doctor."

"Yeah, that's cos your database got corrupted." The Doctor said. "Oh, look, look, look! Check this! The Doctor's infostamps." He threw it at the Cyberman. "Plug it in. go on, download."

"The core has been damaged. This infostamp would damage Cyberunits."

"Oh, well. Nice try."

They Cyberman held the infostamps as it beeped. "Core repaired." Its chest unit opened and it inserted the infostamp, images of the Doctor flashed in its eyes. "You are the Doctor." It removed the infostamps.

"Hello." He gave them a small wave.

"You will be deleted."

"Oh, but let me die happy!" he started to stutter. "Tell me, what d'you need those children for?"

"What are children ever needed for?" the woman countered. "They're a workforce."

"But for what?"

"Very soon now, the whole Empire will see. And they will bow down, in worship."

"And it's all time for Christmas day. Was that your idea, Miss…?"

"Hartigan. And yes, it's the perfect day for a birth, with a new message for the people. Only this time, it won't be the words of a man."  
"The birth of what?" Star asked.

"And who might you be?" Hartigan eyed her.

"Star. The birth of what." She repeated.

"A birth and a death. Namely, yours." She looked at the Doctor. "Thank you, Doctor. Im glad to have been part of your very last conversation. Now, delete them."

"Delete!" the Cybermen shouted.

The Doctor moved in front of Rosita as Star stood up and proceed to kick the Cybermen down, they stumbled back as a beam of energy him them from behind, they collapsed to the floor to reveal Jackson aiming an infostamp at them.

"At your service, Doctor, Star." he smiled at them.

"Shades!" Hartigan called. "Shades!"

"Oh and now your men in shining armour are done you have to call for your pets." Star mocked.

"Nevermind that." The Doctor grabbed her arm and pulled her off. "Run! Come on! And you Rosita!"

"Shades!" Hartigan continued to call.

"One last thing." Rosita mentioned before she punched the woman in the face and she fell to the ground.

"Can I say, I completely disapprove!" the Doctor told her. "Come on!"

"Whereas I on the other hand completely approve!" Star grinned at the woman. "Why didn't I think of that?"

The Doctor, Star, Jackson and Rosita ran down a few more streets before they stopped to catch their breath.

"That stronghold down by the river." The Doctor said. "We need to find a way in."

"Im ahead of you!" Jackson exclaimed. "My wife and I were moving to London so I could take up a post at the university. And while my memory is still not intact, this was my luggage." He pulled out a legal document, "the deeds, 15 Latimer Street. And if I discover the Cybermen there, in the cellar then…"

"That might be a way in!" the Doctor cheered. "Brilliant!"

"But there's still more. I remember the cellar...and my wife. But I swear there was something else in that room. If we can find that, perhaps that's the key to defeating these invaders. So...onwards!" he headed off, leading the way, Rosita following.

"Maybe you should get back to the TARDIS." The Doctor turned to Star.

She let out a heartless laugh at that, "You'd love that wouldn't you. You get all the danger while im stuck in the TARDIS, bored out of my mind." She walked off after the humans.

He rubbed the back of his head, knowing that she wouldn't go back. He sighed and followed, sincerely regretting his decision.

Jackson enter the cellar at 15 Latimer Street, he took out the single Cyberman with the infostamp.

"Is that a dimension vault?" Star frowned at the device in the middle of the room as she, the Doctor and Rosita followed him inside the cellar.

"Must've been guarding this." The Doctor glanced at the fallen Cyberman "Stolen from the Daleks again, that's how the Cybermen travelled through time. Jackson, is this the thing you couldn't remember?"

"I don't think so." Jackson slowly shook his head. "I'm... I just can't see. It's like it's hidden."

"Yeah, not enough power. Come on! Avanti!" he ran off towards the tunnels, gesturing them to follow.

They moved slowly down the tunnels with the Doctor in the lead, Star behind him and then the two humans bringing up the rear.

"What do the Cybermen want?" Rosita asked, quietly in case there was Cybermen nearby.

"They want us. That's what Cybermen are, human beings with their brains put into metal shells. They want every living thing to be like them."

They soon came to the room where the children were working.

"Upon my soul." Jackson breathed.

"What is it?" Rosita frowned.

"It's an engine." The Doctor muttered. "They're generating electricity. But what for?"

"The CyberKing?" Star guessed.

"We can set them free!" Jackson rushed forwards.

The Doctor and Star held him back. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no..._" _they ran back the way they came, the Doctor thinking hard._ "_Power at 90%! But if we stop the engine, the power dies down, the Cybermen will come running. Ooh." He tapped the read out. "Hold on. Power fluctuation. That's not meant to happen."

"It's going wrong?" Jackson assumed.

"No, it's weird." Star stared at it. "The software's rewriting itself. It's changing."

The Doctor stepped back at a surge. "What the hell's happening? It's out of control!"

"It's accelerating." Jackson gasped. "96%, 97..."

"When it reaches 100, what about the children?" Rosita asked.

"They're disposable." Star whispered, those poor innocent children.

"Come on!" the Doctor dragged them back down the tunnels, knowing they didn't have long.

The Cybermen straighten up as they received their orders to kill the children. Jackson and Rosita quickly dealt with the Cybers using the infostamps.

"Right. Now!" the Doctor called to the children. "All of you, out! D'you hear me? That's an order! Every single one of you, run!"

"Go!" Star ushered them to the exit. "Out! Now! Go on!"

"All of you come on!" Jackson nudged some of them towards the doors. "As fast as you can, come on!"

"There's a hot pie for everyone, if you leg it!" the Doctor tried to get them to hurry up.

"Go!"

"Rosita, get them out of the sluice gate!" the Doctor told her. "And once you're out, keep running! Far as you can!"

"Come on, come on, out!" Star ushered them on, running a hand through her hair, worried.

"Turn right at the corner!" Rosita instructed the children. "Fast as you can, and don't stop! Keep running, keep running!" she ran after them.

"Go! Quick, quick." The Doctor ushered the remaining children out, he checked the gauge on the door, "It's some sort of starter motor, but starting what?"

Jackson looked around, to see if anymore children were hiding up top, then he noticed a familiar boy. "That's my son... My son. Doctor, my son!"

The Time Lords ran over and looked up, "What?"

"They took my son. No wonder my mind escaped! Those damned Cybermen, they took my child. But he's alive, Doctor! Fredric!"

"Come on!" the Doctor shouted to the frightened boy.

"No, he's too scared. Stay there! Don't move! Im coming." He ran for the stairs but a large explosion blocked him. The Doctor helped him to his feet. "Fred!"

"They've finished with the motor. It's going to blow up."

"What are we going to do, Doctor? What are we going to do, Star?"  
Star lifted up her sleeve and to reveal a small dagger tucked away in an armband, she held onto some rope.

"Star!" the Doctor shouted at her. "No!"

"Don't worry I'll be careful, now watch and learn father!" she smirked as she cut the rope, the weight on the other end falling to the ground, lifting her up. She didn't notice as the Doctor notice some familiarities of her words. She landed next to Fredric. "Hello." She smiled reassuringly at the poor boy and held him with one arm, the other on the rope. "Now, hold on tight. Don't let go." She swung of the platform and landed on the floor with a small stumble, handing Fredric to Jackson.

She spun around, putting her dagger away in her sleeve, to see the Doctor glaring at her, extremely angry. "What were you thinking?" he demanded.

"I was thinking that it was a way to get Fredric down and it was fun." She grinned.

"Don't do that again!" he pulled her into a tight hug.

She squirmed in his grip. "No! Let me go!" she ducked under his arms and out of the way, before she wrapped her arms around herself and tucked them under her armpits, looking at the floor. "You know I don't like people touching me."

The Doctor, Star, Jackson and Fredric ran back through the tunnel.

"Get out of here." Star turned to Jackson and his son as an explosion came through the tunnel. The Doctor grabbed a sceptre from the device in the cellar.

"Come on, Doctor!" Jackson called as he ran to the exit. "Hurry up!"

"Gotcha!" the Doctor cheered, he and Star ran out after the humans.

The Doctor, Star and Jackson (holding Fredric) reached the river.

"It's a CyberKing." The Doctor breathed.

"And a CyberKing is what?" Jackson looked at them.

"It's a ship." Star explained the best she could. "Inside the chest is a Cyber factory, ready to convert millions!"

The CyberKing walked thought London as people on the streets ran and screamed.

"Take him south, go to the parkland." The Doctor said to Jackson.

"But where are you going?" Jackson called after them.

"To stop that thing."

"I should be with you!"

"Jackson, you've got your son. You've got a reason to live."

"You've got your daughter." He countered. "Your Star."

"Well, im going with him." Star shouted. "Whether he likes it or not." The Doctor gave Jackson a look to show he clearly wasn't happy before they ran off.

The Time Lords ran into the stables and rummaged through the trunks.

"What the hell is that thing, sir?" Jed asked as he eyed the rod.

"Jed, wasn't it?" Star looked over at it. "Jed, we need your help!"

"Im not going out there!"

"I'll give you a kiss." Star battered her eyelashes flirtatiously.

The boy looked as though he was considering this, before the Doctor cut in. "I'll give you five pound notes!"

"Um…all right." He sighed, though he would have preferred the kiss. "What d'you want me to do?"

"The TARDIS is gonna fly!"  
They ran out into the yard. The Doctor tossed the infostamps into the basket before he and Star hoped in.

"You're flamin' bonkers, sir, ma'am!"

"It's been said before." the Doctor shrugged. "Now gimme." Jed handed him the sceptre. "Not enough power, come on! Jed! Let her loose!"

Jed ran to the ropes that secured the balloon and untied them, "Ever flown one of these before?"

"Nope! Never!" he pulled the ropes inside.

"How hard can it?" Star shrugged.

"Can I have my money now?" the boy asked.

"Oh, get on with it!"

Jed untied the last rope and the balloon floated upwards. "Good luck to you!" he laughed.

Star threw the sandbags out allowing them to go higher.

Soon they were the same height as the CyberKing, it turned to face them. Hartigan sat in the centre, between a row of Cybermen.

"Excellent." Hartigan's voice called over to them, her eyes completely black with a device on her head. "The Doctor! Yet another man comes to assert himself against me in the night."

"Miss Hartigan." The Doctor shouted over at her. "We're offering you a choice. You might have the most remarkable mind this world has ever seen. Strong enough to control the Cybermen themselves!"

"I don't need you to sanction me."

"No, but such a mind deserves to live! The Cybermen came into this world using a Dimension Vault. I can use that device to find you a home. With no people to convert. But a new world where you can live out your mechanical life in peace."

"I have a world below, and it is abundant with so many minds, ready to become extensions of me. Why would I leave this place?"

"Because if you don't, we'll have to stop you." Star called over.

"What do you think of me?" she sneered. "An idiot?"

"Well…" Star began.

But the Doctor cut her off. "No. The question is, what do you make of me?" he aimed the infostamp at the CyberKing.

"Destroy them!" Hartigan ordered.

"You make me into this." he fired. The beam hit the device on Hartigan's head, however she remained unharmed.

"Then I have made you a failure." She smirked. "You weapons are useless, sir."

"We weren't trying to kill you." Star shook her head. "We broke the Cyber-connection."

"Leaving your mind open." The Doctor continued. "Open, I think, for the first time in far too many years." Hartigan's eyes converted back to normal. "So you can see. Just look at yourself. Look at what you've done." The Cybermen turned on her as the connection broke. "But look at what you've became."

They watched as Hartigan realised what she had done and what would happen, she screamed as the energy from her brain channelled through the machine, destroying the Cybermen and herself.

"Im so sorry."

The CyberKing staggered as explosions went off.

There was a beep. "Oh. Now you're ready!" he grumbled, he picked up the Dimension Vault. "Care to do the honours?" he handed it to Star.

"My pleasure." She smiled and aimed it at the CyberKing and fired. The CyberKing disappeared just as it began to fall.

A moment late a cheer reached them, a crowd appeared below them.

"Bravo! Bravo!" They heard Jackson shout up.

They waved down at them as the Doctor rang a bell. His hand, placed on one of Star as hers lay on the side of the basket. She glanced at it but refused to remove it, instead it shook from the feel of his hand on hers.

The Doctor took his hand off hers, feeling it shake. "If you don't like it, say so." He whispered to her.

She stayed quiet and bit her lips, closing her eyes. She did like it, she just…she felt like whenever someone touched her she would hurt them, but she would fight it, she would fight herself. And she will win.

~.~

The Doctor, Star and Jackson walked through the market as people tried to repair their damaged stalls and talk about what had just happened not even an hour ago.

"The city will recover, as London always does." Jackson said. "Though the events of today will be history, spoken of for centuries to come!"

"Yeah. Funny that." The Doctor nodded.

"And a new history begins. I find myself a widower, but with my son and with a good friend." They looked over to see Rosita with Fredric, Jed standing next to them.

"Now, take care of that one. She's marvellous."

"Fredric will need a nursemaid and I can think of none better but you're welcome to join us. We thought we might dine together, at the Travellers Halt. A Christmas feast, in celebration, and in memory of those we have lost. You won't stay?"

"Like I said, you know me."

"No, I don't think anyone does."

"Not even me." Star agreed.

"Oh!" Jackson noticed the TARDIS. "And this is it! Oh, if I might, Doctor? One last adventure?"

"Oh, be my guest." He unlocked the door.

"Oh…" he paused on the ramp and looked around in awe. "Oh, my word. Oh." He walked around the console.

"Don't say 'its bigger on the inside,'" Star groaned.

"Oh, my goodness. But this is…but this is nonsense!"

The Doctor blinked. "Well, that's one word for it!"

"Complete and utter, wonderful nonsense!" Jackson laughed. "How very, very silly! Oh, no, I can't bear it! Oh, it's causing my head to ache. No, no, no, no, no, no, no…" he ran back out. "Oh! Oh, gracious. That's quite enough"

The Doctor closed the door behind him, as he and Star stepped back out.

"I take it this is goodbye."

"Onwards and upwards."

"Tell me one thing. All those facts and figures I saw of the Doctors life, you were never alone. All those bright and shining companions! But not anymore."

The Doctor swallowed hard. "No."

"Might I ask, why not?"

"They leave. Because they should, or they find someone else. And some of them…some of them forget me. I suppose in the end…they break my heart."

Star looked down, somehow she felt like it was her fault, if she had teleported out of her cell moments earlier then Davros wouldn't have hit her and wouldn't have sparked the Doctor in her.

"That offer of Christmas diner, it's no longer a request, it's a demand."

"In memory of those we've lost. Oh, go on then!"

"Really?" Jackson blinked.

"Just this once. You've actually gone and changed my mind. Not many people can do that! Jackson, if anyone had to be the Doctor, im glad it was you."

"The feast awaits. Come with me! Walk this way."

"We certainly will, wont we?" he looked pointedly at Star.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt." She shrugged and the Doctor beamed as they walked off.

"Merry Christmas, Jackson." The Doctor called to him.

"Merry Christmas indeed, Doctor." He laughed as he rushed over to his son.

"_Merry Christmas, Nova." _The Doctor dropped a quick kiss on her forehead.

"_Merry Christmas." _She returned.


	3. Planet of the dead

The Doctor and Star walked down a street in London, heading for a red double decker bus.

"You're just in time, mates." the driver greeted as they hopped on.

The Doctor grinned as he swiped the physic paper across the reader twice, allowing both him and Star on.

Star nudged the Doctor to sit down at the window as she took the isle.

"Hello." the Doctor smiled to the dark haired woman dressed all in black in front of him. "I'm the Doctor, this is my daughter Star. Happy Easter!" he held out an Easter egg to the woman as she eyed them both, Star gave her a look clearly saying 'sorry about him'.

"Funny thing is, I don't often do Easter." the Doctor rambled on. "I can never find it; it's always at a different time. Although I remember the original. Between you and me what really happened was..."

A small beep interrupted him.

He handed the egg to the woman and reached in his pocket, searching for something. "Oh, sorry, hold on to that for me. Actually, go on, have it, finish it. It's full of sugar and I'm determined to keep these teeth." He bared his teeth at her as he pulled a gadget out of his pocket. "Ah! Oh, we've got excitation!" he shook it. "I'm picking up something very strange."

"Yeah, you." Star mumbled, with a hint of amusement.

"I know the feeling" the woman muttered as she looked out the window.

"Rhondium particles." the Doctor continued talking to both Star and the woman; however both were ignoring him, or at least trying to. "That's what we're looking for. This thing detects them." he tapped the gadget. "The little dish should go round, that little dish there..."

"Right now, a way out would come in pretty handy." she murmured. "Can you detect me one of those?"

"Oh, the little dish is going round!" he grinned.

"Fascinating."

"And round, whoa..." the dish spin faster until a part of it exploded.

"Excuse me." an older blonde woman looked at him, "do you mind?"

He stood up, "sorry, that was my little dish."

"Can't you turn that thing off." the woman dressed in black asked.

Star turned to her. "What's your name?"

"Christina."

"Christina." the Doctor nodded. "Hold on tight." he held on to the handles next to her as Star ducked her head down in her knees. "Everyone, hold on!"

The bus lurched and shook, the passengers screamed as they jerked forwards. The Doctor fell to the floor.

"The voices!" an older black woman, sitting next to a black man, cried, "oh, the voices, they're screaming!"

One of the windows shattered and sparked flew from the wires over head. A young man fell down the stairs from the upper deck. "What's going in?"

There was a blinding light and more windows shattered. The Doctor stood up and looked around. Sunlight streamed through the windows. He opened the door and looked out onto a desert.

"End of the line." Star muttered as she appeared next to him. They both stepped out.

"Call it a hunch." the Doctor remarked. "But I think we've gone a little bit further that Brixton."

"No. Really?" Star looked at him, sarcastically.

Christina and the other passengers stepped out after them, the top decker of the bus was crushed, smoke whacked from it.

The Doctor laid in the ground, shifting the sand through his finger, Star doing they same but merely crouching down.

"That's impossible." The blonde woman breathed.

"Like when all those planets were in the sky!" a young black man recalled.

"But it was Earth that moved then, wasn't it?" another young man questioned.

"Oh, man, we're on another world!"

"It's still intact, though!" the driver commented. "Not as bad as it looks. The chassis's still holding together. Oh, my boss is gonna murder me!"

"Can you still drive it?" the blonde woman asked.

"Oh, no, the wheels are stuck. Look at them, they're never gonna budge."

Christina, who stood near the Time Lords, removed her jacket and now wore a black short-sleeved top, she put on a pair of sunglasses. "Ready for every emergency,"

The Doctor looked up at her, he removed his glasses and soniced them before putting them back on, now tinted. He dung in his pocketed and pulled out a pair of sunglasses and passed them to Star who put them on. "Us too!" they continued to examine the sand.

"And what's your name?"

"I'm the Doctor.

"Name, not rank."

"The Doctor."

"Surname?"

"The Doctor."

"You're called the Doctor?"

"Yes I am."

"That's not a name, that's a psychological condition." she then turned to Star. "What's your name then?"

"Star." she answered without looking up. "Just Star, no surname."

"Funny sort of sand this." the Doctor remarked. "There's a trace of something else."

"No!" Star pointed a warning finger at him. "Don't do that!"

He ignored her and proceeded to taste some of the sand. "Ack. Burgh. Blah, that's not good."

"No way." Star said, sarcastically.

"Well, it would be, it's sand." Christina agreed.

"No, it tastes like..." he trailed off and stood back up. "Nevermind." He shared a look with Star, both knowing what the sand was.

"What is it, what's wrong?"

"Hold in a minute." a young black man pointed at the Doctor as he and the other passengers walked over. "I saw you, mate! You had that thing, that machine. Did you make this happen?"

"Oh, humans on buses always blaming me." the Doctor grumbled.

"It usually is you." Star muttered before standing a talking to the human. "We." Star gestured between her and the Doctor. "Were tracking a hole in the fabric of reality."

"Call it a hobby." Both Time Lord shrugged.

"But it was a tiny little hole." the Doctor explained. "No danger to anyone suddenly it gets big and we drive right though it."

"But there where is it?" the Driver frowned. "There's nothing, there's only sand."

"You want prove." Star smirked as she picked up a handful of sand and threw it a few feet behind the bus, revealing a swirling vortex but it soon disappeared, "There's your prove!"

"And that's..." Christina shook her head.

"A door." the Doctor said simply, "A door in space."

"So what you're saying is on the other side of that is home?" the driver tried to follow. "We can get to London though there?"

"The bus came though but we can't."

"Well, then what are we waiting for?" he laughed, running to the portal ignoring the Time Lords trying to stop him, "I'm going home mates!" he hit the portal and screamed as his body caught fire, leaving him a skeleton as he fell through.

"He was a skeleton, man!" the young black man cried in horror.

"It was the bus." the Doctor remarked, "Look at the damage that was the bus protecting us. Great big box of metal."

"Rather like a Faraday cage?" Christina frowned, trying to follow.

"Like in a thunderstorm, yeah?" another young man called, "safest place is inside car, cos the metal conducts the lightning right through. We did it in school."

"But if we can only travel back inside the bus...a Faraday cage needs to be closed. That thing's been ripped right open."

"Slightly different dynamics." Star informed them, eying the bus, "there's enough metal. I think we can make it work. I hope." she ended in a whispered hoping none of the humans heard her.

"Then we have to drive a 5 tonnes of bus, which is currently buried in the sand, and we've got nothing but our bare hands." Christina looked at them, "Correct?"

"I'd say 9 and a half tone." The Doctor shrugged. "But the point still stands, yes."

"Then we need to apply ourselves to the problem with discipline! Which starts with appointing a leader."

"Yes, at last, thank you, so…"

"Well, thank goodness you've got me! Everyone do exactly as I say! Inside the bus immediately!"  
"Is it safe in there?" a young man asked.

"I don't think anything's safe any more, but if it's a choice between baking in there or roasting out here, I'd say baking is slower. Come on! All of you. Right now! And you Star and 'The Doctor.'"

"Yes ma'am." The Doctor mock saluted and Star headed back to the bus, grimacing with every step on the bare sand. Now she knew why Donna complained about her not wanting to wear any shoes.

"Up! Come on!"

~.~

"Point 5: the crucial thing is, do not panic." Christina told everyone as they sat in the bus. "Quite apart from anything else, the smell of sweat inside this thing is reaching atrocious levels. We don't need to add anymore. Point 6: team identification. Names, im Christina, this man is apparently the Doctor with Star."

"Hello." The Doctor waved.

"Hi." Star nodded.

"And you?" Christina turned to the young man.

"Nathan." He waved at them all.

"Im Barclay." The young black man introduced.

"Angela." The blonde said, "Angela Whittaker."

"My name's Louis, everyone calls me Lou." The older black man spoke. "And this is Carmen." He nodded to the woman next to him.

"Excellent." Christina smiled. "Memorise those names. There might be a test. Point 7: assessment and application of knowledge. Over to you, the Doctor and Star."

The Doctor looked up, "I thought you were in charge."

"I am. And a good leader utilises her strength. You seem too be the brainboxes. So, start boxing."

"Right." The Doctor nodded, sitting back, "So, the wormhole. We were in the wrong place at the wrong time, it was just an accident."

"No, it wasn't." Carmen shook her head, "that thing, the doorways. Some one made it. For a reason."

"How do you know?"

Lou took over, "she's got a gift. Ever since she was a little girl, she can just…tell things. We do the lottery twice a week."

"You don't look like millionaires." Christina noticed.

"No, but we win 10 pounds. Every week, twice a week, 10 pounds. Don't tell me that's not a gift!"

"Tell me Carmen," the Doctor hid three fingers behind his back, "how many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three." She answered, before he held up another one, "Four."

"Very good!" he grinned at the woman before whispering to Star, "Low lever psychic ability, exacerbated by an alien sun." he moved to sit across from Carmen, "Carmen? Tell me. What's out there?"

"Something…something is coming. Riding on the wind. And shining."

"What is it?" Star asked the woman.

"Death. Death is coming."

"We're going to die." Angela wept.

"I knew it, man, I said so." Barclay cried.

"We can't die out here." Nathan began to panic, "No ones gonna find us."

Soon everyone was crying and snapping at each other as Christina tried to calm them all down, while Star massaged her temples, the noise was killing her.

Star rolled her eyes at everyone, before proceeding to shout over them all, "Everyone shut up! Just stop it!" Everyone stopped arguing, the bus was silent besides Angela's crying. Star turned to the Doctor, "Fix this." She would do it herself but she preferred not to have to talk to people, especially those she didn't know.

He nodded and walked over to Angela, "Angela, look at me." He placed his hands on her shoulders, "Angela, Angela, answer me one question, Angela. That's it, at me, at me." She stopped crying and looked at him, "There we go, Angela, just answer me one thing. When you got on this bus, where were you going?"

"Doesn't matter now, does it?" she sniffed.

"Answer the question."

"Just home."

"And what's home?"

"Me, and Mike and Suzanne, that's my daughter."

"Suzanne. Good." He moved over to Barclay, "what about you?"

"Dunno." He shrugged, "going round Tina's."

"Who's Tina? Your girlfriend?"

"Not yet." he gave a small smile.

"Good boy."

"If you like her you should just tell her." Star told the boy. "Believe me, its better that way." She herself knew how bad it was to not talk someone your feelings and now it was too late.

"What about you, Nathan?" the Doctor continued.

"Bit strapped for cash, I lost my job last week." He sighed. "I was gonna stay in. watch TV."

"Brilliant." He turned to Lou and Carmen, "and you two?"

"I was going to cook." Lou replied.

"It's his turn tonight," Carmen added, "then I clear down."

"What's for tea?"

"Chops." Lou smiled, "Nice couple of chops and gravy. Nothing special."

"Oh, that's special, Lou. That is so special. Chops and gravy. Mmm! What about you Christina?"

"I was going…so far away." She sighed in thought.

"Far away. Chops and gravy. Watching TV. Mike and Suzanne and poor old Tina."

"Hey!" Barclay laughed.

"Just think of them. 'Cos that planet out there and wormholes and alien land, that planet is nothing. You hear me? Nothing compared to all those things waiting for you. Food and home and people hold on to that. Cos we're gonna get there. I promise...we promise." he corrected glancing at Star who nodded. "We're gonna get you home."

Barclay and Nathan stepped out of the bus, holding seat cushions as the Doctor, Star and Christina looked on, "here we go!" the Doctor cheered, "that's my boys! We lay a flat surface between bus and the wormhole, like duckboards and reverse into it."

"Let some air out of the tyres, just a little bit." Christina added, "Spreads weight of the bus, gives you more grip."

"That's brilliant!" Star smiled at the woman.

"Holidays in the Kalahari."

"Yeah, but those wheels go deep." Barclay remarked.

"Then start digging."

"With what?"

"With this." she pulled out a foldable shovel from her bag.

The Doctor took it and unfolded it before passing it to Barclay, "got anything else in there?" He eyed the bag.

"Try that, might help with the seats." she handed Nathan a small axe.

"Thanks!" Nathan headed back to the bus.

"I can't find the keys!" Angela called from inside.

"Buses don't have keys." Star walked over, "there should be a master switch. One button for start, one for stop."

"Right, hold on, oh, I've got it." she flicked a switch. "Here we go, hold tight, ding ding!" she pressed the start button but the engines only sputtered and died.

"Oh, that doesn't sound to good." the Doctor muttered as he walked over to look at the engine. "Oh! Never mind losing half the top deck, you know what's worse? Sand. Tiny little grains of sand. The engine's clogged up."

Christina walked up to Barclay and Nathan, "anyone know mechanics?"

"Me!" Barclay stood up, "I did a two week NVQ at the garage. Never finished but…"

"Off you go then." The Doctor nodded, "try stripping the air filter, fast as you can. Back in two ticks. Star?" he glanced at her.

"Yeah, why not?" she grinned, and they both walked off further into the desert.

"Wait a minute!" Christina followed them, "you're the ones with all the answers. Im not letting you out of my sight."

"Easier if you left the backpack behind." Star eyed it, wondering what could be so important she never let it out of her sight.

"Where I go, it goes."

"A backpack with a spade and an axe." The Doctor said, "Christina who's going so far away, and yet scared by the sound of a siren. Who are you?"

"You can talk." She scoffed in return, "let just say we're three equal mysteries."

"We'd make quite a trio."

"We don't make any sort of trio, thank you very much. Come on then. Tell me. If Carmen's right, if that wormholes not an accident, then what is it? Has someone done this on purpose?"

"We don't know." He admitted.

"My instincts are telling me to get off this planet, immediately." Star added. "And to be honest, I'd rather listen to them." Being stuck on a dark crucible really affected her, this body didn't seem to like the outdoors quite so much, loved the adventure just not the sunlight.

"And do you think we can?" Christina asked.  
"We live in hope." The Doctor replied, and he really hoped they could, he wanted to get of as soon as possible, not only for him, but for Star and for the humans.

"That must be nice." She commented before stopping and holding out her hand, "It's Christina de Souza. To be precise, Lady Christina de Souza."

The Doctor shook her hand. "Ooh, that handy. Cos we're a Lord and a Lady."

Star eyed Christina's hand before she gave a brief handshake.

"Seriously! Lord and Lady of where?"

"Quite a big estate." Star shrugged.

"No, but there's something more about you two. That device you were carrying, and the wormhole. Like you knew. And the way you stride around this place, like…"

"…Like?" the Doctor glanced at her.

"Like you're not quite…"

"Yeah! I stride because I don't like sand in my feet." Star gestured to her feet which were covered in sand.

"Come on!" the Doctor called as they began walking again, "Allons-y!"

"Oui, mais pas si nous allons vers un cauchemar." Christina grinned.

"Tres Bon!" Star smiled.

They stopped on a hill.

"Ah, I don't like the look of that." The Doctor remarked.

"Storm clouds." Christina squinted in the sunlight. "Must be hundreds of miles away."

"And it's getting closer." Star muttered.

"If that's a sand storm, we'll get ripped to shreds."

"It's a storm." The Doctor agreed, "But who say's its sand?"

"I dunno about you…" Star said. "But I think we'd best head back…"  
And with that they turned and ran back to the bus.

~.~

"Where is it?" the Doctor called as he, Star, Christina and Barclay hopped back in the bus.

"There, on the seat." Barclay pointed to his mobile as he picked it up and soniced it.

"You're hardly going to get a signal." Christina cried. "We're on another planet!"

"Oh, just watch me." the Doctor grinned, "right, now, bit of hush, thank you. Gotta remember the number, very important number."

"Hello. Pizza Geronimo?" a voice called on the other side.

"And again!" he disconnected and redialled. "7-6, not 6-7."

"Surely you know the number." Star shook her head at him. "You did work for them."

"This is the Unified Intelligence Taskforce." a man called over the phone, "please select one of the following four options."

"Oh, I hate these things!" he grumbled.

"No, if you keep your finger on zero, you get though to a real person". Angela told him. "I saw it on Watchdog!"

"Thank you, Angela." he sat down next to Star.

"UNIT helpline." a woman came on the phone, "which department would you like?"

"Listen, it's the Doctor! It's me!"

"Doctor. This is Captain Erisa Magambo." Another woman greeted. "Might I say sir, it's an honour."

"I think she just saluted." Star whispered to him, knowing how much he hated people saluted to him.

"Did you just salute?" the Doctor smirked down the phone, knowing it was highly likely Star was right.

"No." Erisa lied.

"She did." Star mouthed to the Doctor.

"I know." He mouthed back.

"Erisa, it's about the bus. HQ said you're at the tunnel, yeah?"

"And where are you?"

"I'm in the bus. But apart from that, not a clue."

"Somewhere dangerous." Star looked out the window.

"Very pretty and very dangerous." the Doctor agreed.

"A body came through here." Erisa replied. "Have you sustained any more fatalities?"

"No and we're not going to. But I'm stuck. Haven't got the TARDIS and I need to analyse that wormhole."

"We have a scientific advisor on site; Dr Malcolm Taylor. Just the man you need, he's a genius."

"Oh, is he? we'll see about that. Stars a genius even if she doesn't show it." he glanced at her, she was smart and he knew it but for some reason she was holding back. She shrugged at him.

"And Star is…?" Erisa asked, if he called her a genius she was obviously important to him.

"My daughter. And don't even think about getting a record on her!"

"Here's the Doctor." they heard Erisa speaking to someone.

"No, I'm all right now, thanks." a man waved her off. "It was just a bit of a sore throat, although I've got to be honest, a cup of tea might be nice."

"It's THE Doctor."

"Do you mean... 'the Doctor' Doctor?"

"I know. We all want to meet him one day, but we all know what that day will bring."

Star rolled her eyes and called into the phone, "We can hear you."

"Hello, Doctor?" Malcolm called, "oh my Goodness!"

"Yes, I am. Hello Malcolm." he took the phone back off Star.

"The Doctor!" Malcolm chuckled with awe, "core Blimey. I can't believe I'm actually speaking to you! I mean. I've read all the files!"

"Really? What was your favourite, the giant robot?" the Star slapped him on the arm, "Ow! No, hold on, let's sort out that wormhole. Scuse me." he moved to the front of the bus with Star, "Malcolm, something's not making sense here. I've got a storm and a wormhole, and I can't help thinking there's a connection. I need a complete full-range analysis of that wormhole, the whole thing."

"I've probably got the wrong idea, buy I've wired up an integrator. I thought it could measure the energy signature."

"No, that'll never work. Just listen to us."

"It's quite extraordinary, though! I'm measuring an oscillation of 15 Malcolm per second."

"15 what?" Star frowned.

"15 Malcolm's. It's my own little term. A wavelength parcel of 10 kilohertz operating in 4 dimensions equals 1 Malcolm."

"You named a unit of measurement after yourself." the Doctor blinked.

"It didn't do Watt any harm." he defended himself, "furthermore, 100 Malcolm's equals a Bernard."

"And who's that, your dad?"

"Don't be ridiculous, that's Quatermass."

"Right. Fine. But before I die of old age, which in my case would be quite an achievement, so congratulations on that, there anyone else we can talk to?"

"No, no, no, no, but listen! I set the scanner to register what it can't detect and inverted the image."

"You did what?" Star frowned.

"Is that wrong?"

"No, Malcolm, that's brilliant! You're brilliant!"

"So you can actually measure the wormhole? Ok, I admit, this is genius." the Doctor agreed.

"The Doctor called me a genius." Malcolm breathed, "And his daughter said I was brilliant!"

"I know, I heard." Erisa muttered, dryly.

"Now, run a capacity scan." The Doctor continued. "I need a full report. Call me back when you've done it. And Malcolm? You're my new best friend."

"And you're mine too, sir." Malcolm replied in amazement.

"I hope you mean that." Star remarked as the Doctor ended the call, "Otherwise his heart would most likely break."

"Oh, I mean it!" he grinned, "Barclay, im holding on to this." He ran out of the doors again.

"Then you'd better bring it back!" Barclay shouted as Star and Christina ran after him following him back into the dessert.

~.~

"Send this back to Earth, see if Malcolm can analyse the storm." He snapped a picture of the storm with Barclay's phone.

"There's something in those clouds, something shining." Christina squinted, trying to spot something, "Look…"

"Something metal." Star remarked.

"Why would there be metal in a storm?" she stiffened as she heard a noise, "did you hear something?"

"Hold on." The Doctor waved her off, "im busy."

"There was a noise, like a sort off…" she turned around. "Doctor…"

The Doctor and Star turned only to be greeted by a humanoid with a flys head and insect hands, a weapon was held in its hand.

The Doctor held up his hands in surrender, Star however didn't bother if it was going to fire at them they wouldn't wait.

The Doctor frowned as the creature chirped and chattered. He answered in the same language, "that's 'wait'. I shout 'wait', people usually wait."

"You speak the language?" Christina eyed him.

"We speak every language." Star told her, before shushing her as the Doctor spoke to the creature.

"That's begging for mercy." The Doctor added.

"That means 'move,'" Christina said as it motioned with its gun.

"Ooh! You're learning."

"These fly things." Christina started as they walked off in front of the creature, "they must be responsible. They brought us here."

"I don't think so." Star shook her head, "look at the ship," she nodded to the ship not far away, "it's a wreck. They crashed, just like us."

The creature clicked and ushered them in.

"But this place is freezing!" Christina exclaimed.

"The hulls made of Photofine steel. Turns cold when it's hot. Boiling desert outside, freezing ship inside. Since we met you, Christina, we've been though all the extremes!"

"That's how I like things. Extreme!"  
"Oh, this place is beautiful! Intact, it must have been magnificent. A proper deep-spacer!"

"I'll remember that as im being slowly tortured. At least im bleeding on the floor of a really well-designed spaceship."

Another creature joined them and touched a device attached to his clothes, the Doctor and Star relaxed more.

"Oh, right, good, yes, hello! That's a telepathic translator. He can understand us."

"Still sounds like gibberish to me."

"That's what he said." Star simplified. "They can understand us. Doesn't work the other way around."

The Doctor translated the aliens chirping, "'you will suffer for your crimes' et cetera… 'You have commuted an act of violence against the Tritovore race.' Tritovores, they're called Tritovores. 'you came here in the 200 to destroy us.' sorry what's the 200?"

"It's the bus." Star answered. "The bus was the 200." It wasn't hard to miss the big numbers.

"Oh! No, look, I think you're making the same mistake Christina did. I'm the Doctor, by the way, and this my daughter Star." he wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"Arm." Star said. He removed his arm from her shoulder.

"Right, sorry." he winced, recalling she didn't like people touching her, "Yes so, and this is Christina, the Honourable Lady Christina, at least I hope she's honourable! But we got pulled through that wormhole. The 200 doesn't look like that normally. It's broken, just the same as you."

The Tritovores lowered their guns as they spoke to each other.

"What are they doing?" Christina frowned.

"They believe me."

"What, as simple as that?"

"I've got a very honest face."

"The translator says you're telling the truth." Star added, knowing just how much and how badly he lies most of the time, she does the same.

"Plus the face!" he argued

Star rolled her eyes and turned to the Tritovores, "there's a very strange something heading our way, can you send out a probe?"

"Ah, they've lost power," the Doctor murmured as the Tritovores clicked, the Time Lords walked to the control panel, "Hmm; the crash knocked the mainline crystallography out of synch. But if I can jiggle it back..." he kicked the panel like he usually does to the TARDIS and the power came back on, "I thank you!" the Tritovores chittered. "Yes I am! Frequently. Okay-doke, let's launch that probe."

The trio sat in the control room, watching the holographic screen display their location in the galaxy.

"The Scorpion Nebula." Star nodded. "We're on the other side of the Universe."

"Just what you want." the Doctor said to Christina, "so far away." the projection zoomed in on the planet. "The planet of San Helios."

"And that's us?" Christina breathed. "We're on another world."

"We have been for a while." Star reminded her.

"I know, but seeing it like that..."

"It's good, isn't it?" the Doctor grinned at her.

"Wonderful."

The Tritovores began to chirp.

"The Tritovores were going to trade with San Helios," the Doctor translated. "A population of 100 billion would create plenty of waste matter for them to absorb."

"By waste matter, you mean?"

"They feed off what others leave behind. From their...behind, if you see what I mean. It's perfectly natural. They are flies."

"Charming." she grimaced, "just remind me never to kiss them."

The projection changed to show a thriving city with trees and green parks.

"San Helios City." Star stated.

"That's amazing." Christina sighed in awe, "but you've seen this sort of thing before, haven't you?"

"Thousand of times." the Doctor nodded.

"Not as many for me though," Star sent a small glare at the Doctor.

"That Lord and Ladyship of yours..." Christina began. "The Lord and Lady of where?"

"Of Time. We come from a race of people called Time Lords or Ladies for the females.

"You're aliens?" she gaped.

"Yeah." the Doctor said, "but you don't have to kiss me either."

"You look human." She eyed them.

"You look Time Lord." Star countered. "We came first."

"So if that's San Helios, all we need to do is find that city. They can help us!"

"I don't think it's that simple." the Doctor shook his head as the projection changed to the desert, "we're in the city right now."

"But that sand!" Christina shook her head, "that first image, the temples and things, what's that, then? Ancient history?"

"The image was taken last year." The Doctor translated as one of the Tritovores chirped.

"It became a desert in one year?"

"I said there was something in the sand." The Doctor let the sand fall through his fingers, "the city, the oceans, the mountains, the wildlife and 100 million people, turned to sand. All those voices in Carmen's head. She's hearing them die."

Christina gasped at that, "but I've got sand in my hair. That's dead people! Oh, that's disgusting! Oh!"  
"Something's destroying the whole of San Helios." The Doctor remarked.

"Yes, but in my hair!"

The Doctor glanced at Star who didn't seem at all bothered about it being not only in her hair but also in her toes; she wasn't wearing any actual shoes.

The mobile rung and the Doctor quickly pulled it out and answered it, "Malcolm! Tell me the bad news!"

"Oh, you are clever!" Malcolm replied, "It is bad news! It's the wormhole, Doctor, its getting bigger! We've gone way past 100 Bernard's; I haven't invented a name for that."

"How can it get bigger by itself?"

"Well, that's why im phoning! You'll work it out, if I know you, sir."

"Doctor," Erisa called over the phone, "we estimate the circumference of your invisible wormhole is now 4 miles, heading upwards. Ive grounded all flights above London. We can't risk anyone else falling through."

"Good work, both of you."  
"But I have to know. Does that wormhole constitute a danger to this planet?"

Just then the phone beeped and the Doctor glanced down at it, "oh, sorry, call waiting, gotta go." He switched it off.

"Yep?" the Doctor answered the other call.

"Doctor, its Nathan." Nathan answered, "We got those duckboard things down, but…"

"It's my fault." Angela sobbed.

"No, its not, don't say that."

"Why what happened?" the Doctor frowned.

"We kept turning the engine, but…we're out of petrol. Used it all up. Even if we can get those wheels out…this bus is never going to move."

"What is it, what wrong?" Christina asked, as he lowered the phone, "Doctor, tell me."

"You promised you'd get us home." Nathan continued, "Doctor? Are you still there?"

Star took the phone of him, "Nathan? It's Star, don't worry, we promised we'd get you home, and we will. Have faith."

'_You think we can do it?' _The Doctor asked her, telepathically.

'_Together.' _

A beeping came form the monitors and the Tritovores chirped excitedly.

"It's the probe. "The Doctor looked up, "It's reached the storm."

"And what's he saying?" Christina asked.

"It's not a storm."

The screen changed to show a swarm of metal stingray type creatures.

"It's a swarm." Christina gasped. "Millions of them."

"Billions." Star corrected.

One of the creatures flew at the probe. "Ah! We've lost the probe." The Doctor groaned, "I think it got eaten. Everything on this planet gets eaten."  
"How far away is that storm?" Christina asked.

"100 miles." He guessed. "But at that speed, it'll be here in 20 minutes."

Star turned to the Tritovores as they began chirping rapidly. "No, they're not coming for us. They want the wormhole."

"They're heading for Earth!" Christina cried.

"Show the analysis." The Doctor called and one of the Tritovores pulled up a 3D image of the creatures. "Incredible! They swarm out of a wormhole, strip the planet bare, and then move on to the next world, start the life cycle all over again."

"So, they make the wormhole?"

"Must do."

"But how? They don't exactly look like technicians. And if the wormhole belongs to them, why are they 100 miles away?"

"Because they need to be? No. that's bonkers…"

"No." Star looked at him, eye wide with realisation, "don't you see? Billions of them, flying in formation, all around the planet, round and round and round, faster and faster and faster, until they generate a rupture in space! The speed of them all, and the numbers and the size, all of that rips the wormhole into existence!"

The Doctor blinked at her, "You are brilliant!" he cheered, moving to hug her before stopping himself and merely patting her shoulder.

Star grinned smugly at the praise, "I know."

"And the wormhole's getting bigger…?" Christina trailed.

"Because they're getting closer!"

"But how do they get though. Cos that wormhole's a killer, we've seen it!"  
"Did you see their exo-skeleton?" Star countered.

"Metal."

"They've got bones of metal!" the Doctor exclaimed, "They eat metal and extrude it into the ex-skeleton! So their velocity makes the wormhole, then their body makes it safe! Perfect design!"  
"Those things are going to turn the entire Earth into a desert. So why exactly are you smiling?"

"Worse it gets, the more I love it!"

"Me too!"

The Doctor looked over at Star to see what she's got to say, "I suppose it is more fun." She shrugged with a smile.

"The thing is, Doctor, you're missing the obvious." Christina stated. "We came here through the wormhole, yes? But our Tritovore friends didn't. They came here to trade with San Helios. Therefore, the question is, why did they crash?"

"Ah, good question!" he grinned at her, "What a team!" he turned to the Tritovores, "Like she said, why did you crash?"

One of the Tritovores led them into another room where there was a large open hole in the floor.

"Oh, yes. Gravity well. Look. Goes all the way down to the engine. So what happened?" the alien chirped, "He says the drive system stalled. 10 miles up, they fell out of the sky. But what cause that?"

The Tritovore shrugged.

"Which means 'no idea'." Christina sighed.

"Yeah, but wait a minute, that's a crystal nucleus down there. Yes?" the Tritovore chirped, "and it looks like it survived the crash. If the crystals intact...oh yes, that's better than diesel!"

"What, you can use the crystal to move the bus?"

"I think we can." Star nodded, "the spaceships a write-off, but the 200 should be small enough."

"How does a crystal drive a bus?"

"In a super-clever outer-spacey way. Just trust me on this!" the Doctor pulled up a feed on the monitor. "There's the crystal. It's fallen to the bottom of the well. Have you got access shafts?" The Tritovore chirped again, "all frozen? Maybe we can open them! You stay two here; keep an eye on the shaft. Star keep your mind open. Tell me if anything happen." he called back to her as he, and the Tritovores left the room back to the control room.

~.~

"You don't happen to have a wench and harness in your bag to do?" Star eyed it as she stepped back form peering down the edge, an idea forming in her head.

"Actually I do." She pulled it out.

"Perfect." Star grinned as she set it up.

'_If you see a panel opening in that shaft, let me know.' _The Doctor called in Stars mind.

'_Nothing yet.' _she put a harness on that Christina pulled out.

'_Anything now?'_

'_Nope.'_

'_Any sign of movement?'_

'_None yet.'_

'_How's that?'_

'_Still nothing.' _She replied as Christina set up a wire cable and winch for Star to go down. _'By the way, you may want to hurry back. Im about to get the crystal.'_

'_What do you mean? Star!'_

"You gonna be alright?" Christina asked.

"I'll be careful." Star smirked as the Doctor ran into the room, "Get ready to stop me." And with that she dove into the gravity well.

"No!" the Doctor shouted as he soniced the pulley, causing Star to stop.

"Just in time." She laughed, "Any longer and I'd have hit the security grid."

"Come back up." He ordered.

"We need the crystal. I can get the crystal." She paused for a second looking for something, "Big red button." She pressed it and the wall disappeared.

"Seriously come back up. I can do that."

"But that'll waste time me going back up for you to come back, besides im small I can squeeze better."

"She's got a point." Christina agreed with her.

The Doctor thought for a moment before deciding, "Slowly." He soniced the pulley allowing her to go further down.

"Don't worry, I'll be careful." And she slowly continued head first.

"Quite the mystery, aren't you?" the Doctor spoke to Christina and she looked down, watching Star, "Lady Christina de Souza. Carrying a winch in her bag."

"No stranger than you, spaceman." She replied not looking at him.

"I had this friend, once. She called me spaceman."

"And was she right? Do you zoom about the place in a rocket?"

"Well, a little blue box." he corrected. "Travels in more than space. It can journey though time, Christina. Oh, the places I've been. World war 1." the Doctor continued, "Creation of the universe, end of the universe, the war between China and Japan." he looked through her bag, un noticed by her and found a golden chalice, "and the court of King Atheistan in 924AD. Don't remember you being there." he picked up the chalice, "So what are you doing with this?"

"Excuse me." she looked back at him. "A gentleman never goes though a lady's possessions."

"He isn't a gentleman." Star called back up.

A Tritovore chirped. "It's the Cup of Athelstan." The Doctor answered, "given to the first king of Britain, as a coronation gift from Hywel, King of the Welsh. It's been held in the International Gallery for 200 years, which makes you, Lady Christina, a thief."

"I like to think I liberated it." she defended.

"Don't tell me you need money."

"Daddy lost everything. Invested his fortune in the Icelandic banks."

"No, no, no, if you're short of cash, you rob a bank stealing this, that's a lifestyle."

"I take it you disapprove?"

"Absolutely."

"Little blue box." Star cleared her throat loud enough for them to hear.

"Except…that little blue box. I stole that. From our own people."

"Good boy." Christina cheered, "You were right, we're quite a team."

"Well, I haven't stolen anything." Star smirked, before adding, "Yet." when there was a loud screeching from below her, "uh oh."

"We never did find out why the ship crash." The Doctor said, realisation dawning on him, "Star, come back up."

"I can get it."

"Careful. Slowly." He turned to the Tritovores, "have you got an open-vent system?" they chirped an answer, "I thought so."

"What does that mean?" Christina demanded.

"It's like when birds fly into the engines of an aircraft." the Doctor explained,

"One of the creatures."

"Got trapped in the vents. Caused the crash, Star get out."

"Almost there." Star grunted as she tried to release the crystal.

"Not just the crystal." the Doctor added, "we need the whole bed, the plate thing."

"I know! Got it! Pull me up! Now!"

"Come on, come on!" the Doctor muttered sonicing the winch to pull her up faster, as the creature followed her, "come on, come on, come on, come on! It's gonna eat its way up!"

Star hit the red button on her way up, turning the field back on, the creature shrieked as it flew into it.

The Doctor swung Star to the side, taking the crystal and its couplings off her. "That's it, that's it. I've got you, I've got you!" the Tritovore took the crystal and chirped at the Doctor.

"Isn't she just?" he grinned at Star.

"Thank you." Star smiled at the compliment.

They ran back into the control room, "Commander!" the Doctor called, carrying the crystal, "Mission complete! Now we've got to get back to the 200, all of us." The commander chirped, "Oh, don't be so daft! A captain can leave his ship if there's a bus standing by."

They heard a rumbling.

"What the hell was that?" Christina looked back, "Is this place safe? It's the creature. It's not dead."

"Maybe you didn't hit just one of them." He glanced at Star, "If you hit a swarm..."

"Do you mean if there's more on board?"

"This ship's built inside a metal sleeve. They can move through the infrastructure, all around us." The creature thudded against the wall. "And they wake up hungry. Commander, you've got to come with us, right now!"

"You can come back to Earth; we'll find you a home!"

"And that's the word of a lady! Come on!"

One of the Tritovores ran after the Doctor, Star and Christina when just as the second began to follow a creature dropped through the ceiling and ate it. The other Tritovore aimed it gun at it.

"No, don't!" Star shouted. The Tritovore advanced on the creature and was eaten.

"There's nothing we can do." The Doctor nudged the girls on and ahead of him. "Run!"

They ran out of the ship and across the desert back to the bus.

~.~

The phone ran and the Doctor answered.

"Doctor?" Malcolm called.

"Not now, Malcolm!" and he hung up on him.

"At last!" Nathan called as he and Barclay stood at the doors waiting for them, "where've you been?!"

"Get inside, get them sitting down. Now then, let's have a look" he ushered them all inside before looking at the crystal.

"So what does the crystal do?" Christina asked.

"Oh, nothing, don't need the crystal." He tossed it over his shoulder.

"She risked her life for that!" she nodded at Star, who didn't seem annoyed in the slightest.

"No I risked my life, that them." Star nodded to the clamps as the Doctor unclamped them.

"The clamps!" the Doctor handed two to Star and the two of them ran around the bus, clamping them to the wheels.

"But what are the clamps for?" Christina shook her head, "Do they turn the wheels?"

The Doctor sat down in the driver's seat, "Something like that. I just need to fix this. Have you got a hammer in that bag?"

"Funnily enough" she pulled a hammer out.

"Phone, phone..." he tossed the phone to Star who hit redial and held it to his ear, "Malcolm, it's me!"

"Im ready!" Malcolm answered.

"Ready for what?"

"I don't know! You tell me!"

"I'll try to get back. There might be something following us. You need to find a way to close the wormhole."

"Would that be a compressed burst of feedback on a counter-oscillation, perchance?"

"Oh, Malcolm! You're brilliant!"

"Coming from you, sir, that means the world."

"And believe me, we both mean it." Star added.

"Doctor, what sort of something?" Erisa called. "That wormhole is now measuring ten miles and growing, I need to know the exact nature of the threat."

The Doctor gave Star a look, "Sorry, gotta go." She hung up on them.

The Doctor continued working on the wheel as it sparked, "Ah, it's not compatible! Bus, spaceship, spaceship, bus. I need to weld the two systems together."

"And how do you do that?" Christina frowned.

"I need something non-corrosive, something malleable, something ductile, and something..."he looked at Christina. "Gold."

"Oh, no you don't." she pulled the bag closer to her.  
"Christina. Is it really worth you life" Star asked her, softly, "worth all their lifes?" he nodded to the passengers.

"It's over 1,000 years old. Worth £18 million. Promise me you'll be careful." She carefully took the cup out of her bag.

"I promise." He took the cup and proceeded to bang it with the hammer.

"I hate you." She mumbled.

"We all do." Star patted the woman shoulder.

The Doctor looked back at the other passengers, "This is your driver speaking! Hold on tight!"

"What for?" Barclay asked, "What's he doing?"

"Do as he says." Star turned to them.

"What are you doing?" Christina whispered to him.

He revved the engine, "Come on, that's it... You can do it, you beauty! One last trip!"

The bus powered and rattled as it slowly rose out of the sand.

"Ah, you are so kidding me!" Barclay exclaimed as he looked out of the window.

"We're flying!" Nathan cried. "It's flying!"

"He's flying the bus!" Lou laughed.

"It's a miracle!" Angela gasped.

"Anti-gravity clamps. Didn't I say? Round we go." The Doctor turned the bus towards the wormhole.

"Doctor!" Carmen shouted, "They're coming!"

"Do you think this thing will survive the journey back?" Christina asked.

"Only one way to find out!" he began, "Next stop..."

"Planet Earth!" Star cheered.

Everyone held on tight as the Doctor drove the bus through the wormhole. There was a flash of light and then they were flying through the streets of London.

"It's London!" Barclay cried.

"We're back home!" Angela breathed.

"They did it!" Nathan laughed, "They did it!"

Erisa's soldiers shot at the creatures as they followed through the wormhole.

"Malcolm!" Star called into the phone, "Close the wormhole!"  
"Yes, ma'am! My pleasure, ma'am." He hung up the phone.

"He hung up on me." Star pouted as she dialled again, "Malcolm?"

"Not now, im busy!" he hung up again.

Star let out an outraged gasp as she rung again, "Malcolm! Listen to me!"

"It's not working!"

"We need that signal. We've got billions of those things about to fly through!"

"Well what do I do?"

"Loop it back through the integrator, and keep the signal ramping up."

"By how much?"  
"500 Bernard's! Do it now!" she ordered him.

"Yes!" he shouted, as it worked.

The wormhole closed and the soldier continued to shoot the three escaped creatures.

"Doctor, it's coming for us!" Nathan shouted as one of them came at them.

"Oh, no, you don't!" he swerved the bus and batted the creature away.

"Did I say I hated you?" Christina breathed. "I was lying."

"That was amazing!" Star laughed, pulling him into a quick bear hug from behind before she quickly pulled away again.

"Not stand forward of this point." The Doctor said to the passengers. "Ladies and gentlemen, you have reached your final destination. Welcome home, the mighty 200."

The Doctor landed the bus, greeted by the soldiers applauding them. The Doctor opened the doors with the sonic as everyone gathered their belongings and headed out.

"Welcome back." A soldier greeted them as they stepped off, "If you could step away from the bus to be safe. As fast as you can. It's standard procedure. We need to screen you, and then you'll all be taken to debriefing."

"We don't count," the Doctor flashed him the physic paper.

"No, but Doctor…" Christina tried to follow them.

But the soldier held her back, "with me ma'am." He took her arm and led her off.  
"Doctor!" a short man in a lab coat and glasses ran up to them, "you must be Star!"

"You must be Malcolm!" the Doctor smiled.

He pulled the Doctor in a large hug, "Oh! Oh, I love you." He ended the hug and went to hug Star but she gave him a hand shake instead, "I love you! You're not what I expected though."

"Oh, please don't tell me you were expecting a mini Doctor." She moaned.

"I think he loves us." The Doctor chuckled.

"You don't say?"

"To your station, Doctor Taylor." Erisa ordered.

"Yes, ma'am." He headed back to his lab but turned and pointed at the Time Lords, "I love you!" they pointed back at him and he walked off.

"Doctor, Star." Erisa saluted them. "I salute you, whether you like it or not. Now, I take it we're safe from those things?"

"They'll start again." the Doctor told her honestly. "Generate a new doorway. It's not their fault; it's their natural life cycle. But I'll see if I can nudge the wormholes on to uninhabited planets. Closer to home."

"Captain." Star said, "Those two lads." He nodded to Barclay and Nathan, "very good in a crisis. Nathan needs a job, Barclay's good with engines. You could do a lot worse. Privates Nathan and Barclay, UNIT's finest."

"I'll see what I can do." Erisa nodded. "And I've got something for you both."

Behind her, a tarp on a lorry dropped to reveal the TARDIS.

The Doctor laughed and he and Star walked over to her, "Better than a bus, any day! Hello!"

"Found in the gardens of Buckingham Palace." Erisa told them.

"Oh, she doesn't mind."  
"Now, I've got 3 dead alien stingrays to clear up. I don't suppose you fancy helping with the paperwork?"

"Not a chance."

"Till we meet again, Doctor. Star."

"I hope so." They shook hands with each other as Erisa left. "And I don't want a record for Star!" he shouted after her.

"Little blue box!" Christina smiled as she walked over, "Just like you said! Right then, off we go! Come on, Doctor, show me the stars!"

"No." the Doctor shook his head.

"What?"

"I said no."

"But I saved your lives. And you saved mine."

"So?"

"We're surrounded by police. I'll go to prison."

"Yeah."

"But you were right; it's not about the money. I only steal things for the adventure, and today, with you... I want more days like this. I want every day to be like this. We're made for each other, you said so yourself. The perfect team. Why not?"

"People have travelled with me and I've lost them. Lost them all. Never again." it was just that but he'd noticed that this Star didn't seem quite comfortable with people; he knew she definitely didn't like to touch people or hug them.

"Lady Christina de Souza!" a detective walked over. "Oh, I have waited a long time to say this. I am arresting you on suspicion of theft."

The Time Lord stood and watched as she was handcuffed and led away.

"Doctor?" Carmen called to him, "You take care, now."

The Doctor smiled at them, "you too. Chops and gravy."

"No, but you be careful. Because your song is ending, sir."

His smile faded as Star tensed, "what do you mean?"

"It is returning. It is returning through the dark. And then, Doctor... Oh, but then... He will knock four times." They left as the Doctor stared, stunned and Star looked around worried for him.

He looked over to where Christina was led into a police car and pointed the sonic at her handcuffs, unlocking them, she got out of the other side of the car and ran for the bus.

"No!" the detective shouted and he ran after her, "Stop that woman! Stop that woman! Stop her! Don't just stand there, stop her!" Christina closed the doors on him and the Time Lords walked over. "Open the door! I'll add resisting arrest!"

"I'd step back if I were you." Star remarked, hiding a smirk.

The detective spun around the face them, "I'm charging you too! Aiding and abetting!"

"Yes." The Doctor nodded, "we'll just step inside this police box and arrest ourselves." They turned and walked off to the TARDIS.

"Out, now!" Christina waved and started the bus, "no! Come back!"  
Everyone laughed and cheered and Christina flew away. She stopped the bus in mid air and opened the door, "We could've been so good together." She called down at the Doctor.

"Christina. We were." He smiled at her as she flew off.

**LilyMayRose: thanks im glad you like it :)**


	4. The wedding of Sarah Jane Smith

"I hope we're right about this." Star remarked as they landed the TARDIS is the parlour of a country manor, they ran down the hall towards where they heard people reciting marriage vows.

"I know." the Doctor whispered, if they were right then Sarah Jane would love them for saving her, if they were wrong, it was highly likely she would try to kill them for interrupting her wedding. They were hoping that she would love them, even if that meant she was in danger.

"...let them speak now or forever hold their peace." they heard the vicar through the doors.

They threw open the door and burst into the room as Sarah Jane stood with her fiancé, Peter, beaming away, "Stop this wedding now!" he shouted, causing everyone turn to them.

"What?" Sarah Jane gaped.

"What's going on?" a young girl sitting next to a young boy they recognised to be Luke asked.

"Who the hell are they?" Peter demanded.

"I don't believe it." Luke gasped.

"Who are they?" the girl asked again.

"Master!" K9 rolled out from under a table.

"We said stop this wedding!" Star shouted. "Please before he comes!" Suddenly a wind started to pick up, "He's coming!" she gasped.

"Alert!" K9 called as he rolled around in a circle, "Alert, danger mistress."

"Sarah!" the Doctor reached out for her, "Get away from him!"

"Sarah Jane, please trust us." Star pleaded.

Sarah Jane looked at them, then back at Peter and quickly tried to pull away, but he held on, "No, please let me go."

"Don't be afraid Sarah Jane," he smiled at her, "It's the angel."

There was a small flicker of energy when a humanoid creature with no eyes and sharp teeth appeared in a large white robe and hood.

"It's the Trickster!" the girl gasped making the Time Lords realise that they have met him before.

"Mum!" Luke shouted, trying to get to his mother, but the wind kept him back, "Mum!"

"Sarah!" the Doctor cried.

"Trickster let her go!" Star shouted.

The Trickster chuckled, "too late Time Lords! You're mine Sarah Jane Smith." he reached out and grabbed her. "Mine forever!"

"Doctor!" Sarah Jane reached out for him and Star as she vanished along with Peter and the Trickster.

"No!" Star cried.

"Sarah!" the Doctor yelled as the wind finally stopped, he ran to the altar, "No!"

Energy waved over the guests, apart from them, Luke, the girl next to him and a young black boy and K9. The guests disappeared.

"Dad!" the girl cried, "Mum!"

"Hold on!" Star ordered the children, "Everyone hold on!"

A bright light filled the room...

~.~

Star slowly stirred as see felt someone gently shaking her, "Star? Wake up sleeping beauty."

"Im not sleeping beauty, im more like Maleficent." she opened her eyes and looked at him, "Disney is very good and very quotable." He shook his head at her. He'd noticed that she always seemed to wander around the TARDIS and the other night he found her in on of the movie room, as she sat curled up on a sofa, watching as many Disney movies as the TARDIS had.

"Luke?" the Doctor knelt next to the boy, "Luke Smith?"

Like blinked as she woke up to see the Doctor looking down at him, "Doctor? Star?"

"That's us." the Doctor nodded. "Good to meet you in the flesh."

"What happened?" he sat bolt up straight, "Mum! The Trickster!"

"Luke, Luke, Luke, Luke, Luke listen to me. Everything's going to be alright, we can find Sarah, we can bring her back, we promise."

"Luke what are your friends' name?" Star asked.

"Rani and Clyde."

"Thank you." she went to wake them up.

"Who are you?" Clyde asked as he sat up.

Rani's gaze was on the Doctor, "Wait a minute...it's you isn't it?"

"Its us." he agreed as he stood up and walked over to the fireplace and listened to the floor.

"The Doctor!" Rani gasped, she turned to Star, "and you're Star!"

Star blinked. "You've heard of me?"

"That's them." Luke nodded as they walked over to the Doctor.

"You have a stethoscope in you pockets." Star reminded the Doctor as she rolled her eyes, "why don't you use it?"

"I hope you're as good as Sarah Jane says you are." Clyde remarked.

"Well..." the Doctor shrugged, trying to act modest, "You know journalists, always exaggerating things." he pushed himself back up, "But yeah, I'm pretty amazing in a good day. Star too when she wants to be."

"Master, inquiry." K9 rolled over, "Who is Star?"

"K9!" the Doctor bent down to pet him, "did you miss me? Meet my daughter, Star."

"Mistress Star." K9 wagged his tail, "another inquiry; where is Sarah Jane?"

"Where are we?" Clyde stared out of the window.

"One-dimensional shift" the Doctor answered as they all walked over and looked outside, "Time's moved on. But us, and this entire building, we've been left behind."

"There's nothing out there!" Rani frowned.

"I said all along, I knew there was something wrong about all of this." Clyde turned to the Doctor, "And what exactly is going on?"

"I'll explain later…"

Star massaged her temples as all at once the children started to talk over each other in their concern and worry. "Enough!" She shouted over them, "Quiet!"

The Doctor nodded his thanks before speaking, "Shh! Here's the answer to all your questions. Yes, that was the Trickster. Yes, we're trapped. Yes Star and I are the only ones who can get us out of the trap. Yes, we're gonna bring Sarah Jane, and your mum and dad, and all the others back safe. But we can't do any of it without you."

"You need us?" Clyde blinked.

"Does Sarah Jane need you?" Star countered.

"But my mum and dad, where are they?" Rani asked.

"Just go on with them Rani." Luke whispered to her, "I saw them save the world."

"Actually," Star corrected the boy, "you saw him save the world," she nodded to the Doctor, "I just happened to be there at the time."

The Doctor slapped Luke playfully in the cheeks, "you helped us save the world Luke-y boy! Right!" he rushed off, "come on, we can use the TARDIS!"

Star turned to them, "You do know what the TARDIS is yeah?"

"Unless you've really not been paying attention...and!" they ran off again, "Allons-y!"

They ran into the parlour to find it empty, no TARDIS.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, it was there! It was right there!" he pulled the children back, "wait, wait, wait, wait."

They listened as the TARDIS struggled to get through.

"That's noise, I've heard it before." Rani remarked.

"That was us." Star explained, "We were trying to break through. But were knocked back by the Trickster."

The TARDIS began to materialize, but only barely.

"Temporal schism is preventing TARDIS materialization." K9 stated.

"Wait a minute, that's the TARDIS?" Clyde stared at it. "It's just a wooden box."

"Come on!" the Doctor edged in, "you can do it, more power." the TARDIS disappeared again, "Ok, well, no TARDIS. It can't materialize here til time moves forwards."

"What so we're trapped here?" Rani gasped, "Wherever this is?"

"No, 'cos what have we it? We've got K9!"

"Affirmative." K9 wagged his tail.

"And I've got Star!"

"Don't forget you three." Star added.

"Yes! Any friend of Sarah Jane Smith is a friend of mine."

"And mine."

"But where is this?" Clyde wondered, "What's happened to the rest of the world?"

"Our present location, nowhere, no when." K9 informed them.

"No when?" Luke frowned.

"Look at the clocks." Star nodded to the clocks as it clicked on the wall, but didn't move passed the second.

"Time has stopped."

"What?" Clyde looked down at his watch, "you're joking."

"No time hasn't stopped." Luke realized as he watched a horse jump on the TV repeating the second, "this second's on a loop. 23 seconds and 23 minutes past 3 o'clock."

"And we're caught inside it." the Doctor agreed, "in this one second."

"But again, where is Sarah Jane?" Clyde asked.

"I think she's right here."

"So we've been kept behind in this second." Rani followed.

"Affirmative Mistress Rani." K9 called.

"But the rest of the world, mum and dad, everyone else, they've moved on from here, going forwards in time. Why has the Trickster trapped us here?"

"Come in, Rani, you're clever." Star nudged her on, "Work it out."

"We're Sarah Jane's friends, all of us, her best friends!"

The Doctor tossed Luke his jacket and ran up the stairs, "Yeah, which means?"

"Hostages! He can use us to get to her!"

"We've met the Trickster before but we've never actually found out who he is." Clyde told him.

"The Trickster is a creature from beyond the universe." the Doctor said and he jumped back down the stairs, "forever trying to break into our reality, manifest himself. He's one of the pantheons of discords."

"That's a good name for a band." Clyde nodded.

"Actually not bad!"

"The Trickster..." Star began giving the Doctor a look as he always seems to go of the point, "is an eternal exile who exists to wreak havoc. But we can fight him."

The Doctor gave her a questioning looking wondering why she knew so much about him but she merely shrugged, "oh!" he cheered as the sonic beeped, he flashed it around the room, "ha! That's it! Time trace! Just a hint of Sarah Jane. Oh, she's close." He jumped on a sofa, listening to the sonic.

Rani suddenly shivered, "what was that? Felt like someone just walked over my grave."

The started to whir, "oh! Oh! She's here! She's here! Sarah!"

"Sarah Jane." Rani corrected lightly. "She doesn't like being called Sarah."

"She does by me." The sonic hummed towards the parlor's doors, "K9!"

"Scanning master!" he replied.

"Doctor!" Sarah Jane's voice echoed around them.

"Mum!" Luke shouted.

"That was her!" Clyde agreed.

"K9!" Star turned to the dog, "Isolate the time trace."

"Affirmative Mistress." K9 began to scan.

There was another echo of a door slamming.

"K9!" the Doctor called as the sonic's beeping began to slow.

"Temporal schism divided in two, master."

"Yes of course!"

Star turned to the children and explained as simply as she could, "We're trapped here in 3.23.23 and Sarah Jane's trapped too, just in another second."

"Hold on," Clyde folding his arms, "You said you'd explain later, well, it's later...now explain."

"Clyde. I like you." Star winked at him, "So demanding." Clyde beamed at her.

"The Trickster doesn't want us helping Sarah." the Doctor informed them, "So he's separated us. Trapped us in two different seconds."

"Doctor!" the heard Sarah Jane echo again.

"Oh, she's upstairs...come on! Luke, K9, watch for the TARDIS, you see it coming back shout the place down."

"Orders accepted master." K9 nodded his head.

"You two with us!" he, Star, Clyde and Rani ran up the stairs. "Spit spot."

~.~

They ran into the chapel.

"How did we end up here again?" Rani shook her head.

"It's a spatial loop mixed up with a temporal loop." Clyde answered very smug with himself.

"How did you work that one out?"

"Well, we've been doing this for a while now, I have taken notes."

"Come on, come on, come on." the Doctor muttered, "Sarah, let us find you..."

"Hang on, though." Rani said, "This is mad. The Trickster, he's this all powerful immortal who wants the cause chaos throughout the stars...and he wants Sarah Jane to get married? What does he get out of that?"

"She's here." The Doctor moved the sonic around, "if I can narrow the loop ratio…"

"Doctor!" A voice shouted from behind, the spun around the see the Trickster standing there. "Star! At last Time Lords." The Trickster called, "I could feel this moment reverberating back through the ages, meeting the pantheon of discord, the last of the Time Lords."

"I've known the legends of the pantheon since I was a little boy." He remarked, "I have fought your shadow and your changelings. I never thought we'd actually meet."

"And I knew legends of the Doctor, the man of ice and fire, walked among the gods, once held the key of time in his hands. Now he is surrounded by children."

"They're our friends." Star defended.

"Which reminds me." The Doctor glared at him, "You're looking a bit lonely for a pantheon."  
"I embody multitudes." He said.

"Oh."

"But for you, the man you will lose everybody, to talk to me of loneness, when the gate is waiting for you."  
"What do you mean?"

"Sarah Jane Smith is my prize. You know Doctor. Didn't realize how wonderful she is."

"What do you want with her?" Star clenched her fists.

"What ive always wanted for many of those, I visit, they're agreement. Goodbye Time Lords." And with that his disappeared.

"Agreement." The Doctor murmured. "The power of words. She says I do…yes! That's it!"

"That's what?" Clyde shook his head.

"She promises to love and honour her husband, wedding ring goes on, then she's agreed to it and she's totally under the Trickster power."  
"Marital bliss but she forgets all about this. She starts living a new life." Star finished.

"Forgetting about her old life, protecting the Earth!" Rani realized.

"And the planet's wide open do that aliens can just barge in!" Clyde exclaimed.

"Without Sarah Jane." Star said, "Without you lot, saving the world from your attic in Earling, it'd be chaos and destruction. Food and drink to the Trickster."

"That's if she's gonna say yes."

"But she will won't she?" the Doctor reasoned, "Because we're here."

A low wheezing started, obviously the TARDIS. They turned and ran to the wall as the TARDIS slowly appeared.

"TARDIS!" he beamed, "Beautiful yes! It's homing in on us! The emergency program protecting the pilot! Of course! That's materialization!"

"What's happening?" Luke ran in with K9 having heard the TARDIS from drown stairs.

"Look." he kept the children back as energy streamed around the box. "That's pure Artron energy. TARDIS power, equal enough to Tricksters power! That's how we can fight him!"

The TARDIS fully materialized and the Time Lords ran in.

"Doctor!" Rani shouted.

"Come on, all of you get in!" the Doctor held his hand out to the kids, "come on now!" he grabbed Clyde's hand but the wind was too powerful, the Doctor fell back and the door slammed shut, Clyde slammed into the door, slamming into the Artron energy.

~.~

"Sarah!" the Doctor called as the TARDIS materialized and he shoved the door open.

"Sarah Jane!" Star shouted.

"Doctor!" Sarah Jane gasped and ran over, "Star!"

"We have to be quick. The TARDIS can't stabilize."

"Clyde's keeping the Trickster busy at the moment." the Doctor added, "Oh those three are just brilliant!"

"What can I do?" Sarah Jane asked, tears in her eyes, "If I say no, we're trapped here forever, if I say yes, I condemn the world to the Trickster. Either way I lose, there's no way out."

"It all rests on you Sarah. Your greatest challenge. The hardest thing you'll ever face in your life."

"What is it? Tell me what I've got to do."

"You've fought the Trickster before." Star said softly, knowing how hard this is on her, "you know how he operates, how he can be defeated..." she glanced at Peter.

"No." she breathed, realizing what they meant. "No..."

"I know you're a good man Peter." the Doctor looked at him, sadly.

There was a scream behind them, they turned to see Clyde and the Trickster appear, their hands locked, Artron energy shooting through them both.

"Clyde!" Sarah Jane gasped as the boy collapsed.

"She can't hold!" Star exclaimed when the doors suddenly slammed shut.

~.~

The Doctor and Star ran in and Sarah Jane knelt on the floor with Clyde in her arms. Peter disappeared having turned down his offer with the Trickster.

"Mum!" Luke ran over and hugged her.

"Doctor!" Sarah Jane wept, "Oh Doctor!"

"My Sarah Jane." the Doctor murmured, hugging her tightly, "You did it, the trap is broken, times moving forwards again..." the room started to shake.

"Everyone hold on." Star warned.

"We're all going home!" the Doctor repeated as the same bright light from earlier filled the room.

~.~

The Doctor and Star materialized the TARDIS is Sarah Jane's attic, surprising her and the children as they did their best to comfort her as her heart broke.

"Doctor!" Sarah Jane gasped as the doors opened.

"What do you take us for Sarah?" the Doctor pouted as he stepped out, "We just thought we'd go the quick way."

"Didn't want to cause a scene at the chapel." Star added.

"Oh." the Doctor looked sound the attic, "I like it in here."

"Can we have a look?" Rani asked, excited.

"What in the TARDIS?" he frowned as they nodded, "my TARDIS?" their expressions faded as he sounded angry at them, "course you can, yeah." he grinned at them. He stepped aside allowing them to run in. Sarah Jane slowly followed.

"Oh wow!" Clyde grinned, "It really is isn't it? It's bigger on the inside?"

"It's beautiful!" Rani breathed as she ducked under a Y-beam.

"Transcendental dimensions." Luke nodded.

"Oh what does this do?" Clyde pointed at a button on the console.

"Hey! Don't touch." Sarah Jane called to him, before turning to the Time Lords, "you came all this way for me?"

"You are so important." the Doctor told her, "And not just to me."

"You're important to me aswell." Star added. "The Trickster wants to end your story but it goes on."

"The things you've done Sarah they're pretty impressive. But oh! The things you're gonna do...

"The future..." Luke cut in, "How about we could go for a ride?"

"Or back to the dinosaurs yeah?" Clyde looked hopeful.

"Another planet?" Rani suggested.

"No way!" Sarah Jane shook her head, "For one thing, you were grounded by the Judoon."

"Ooh nasty." Star laughed.

"That will happen to you one day." The Doctor nudged Star.

"I'd like to see them try."

"No doubt you'd end up grounding them."

She thought for a second before nodding, "Yeah, sounds like me."

"And you're parents would never forgive me." Sarah Jane looked at them, "Go on." the children headed back out into the attic, "is this the last time I'm ever going to see you?"

"I don't know." the Doctor answered honestly, "I hope not."

"Bye Doctor. Bye Star. Until the next time."

"Don't forget me Sarah Jane."

"No ones ever going to forget you." Sarah Jane smiled at him before she headed back into the attic as the TARDIS disappeared back into the time vortex.


	5. The water of mars

Star frowned at the Doctor piloted the TARDIS, he had begged her to agree to go to Mars, but she'd been worried, with his piloting she was anxious that they'd end up at a different time period than they were aiming. She just…Bowie Base One. That worried her the most, if they ended up at that time…it was a fixed point, it would break their hearts if they ended up their and realised there was nothing they could do.

~.~

The TARDIS materialised and the Doctor stepped out in a red spacesuit, "The red planet." He smiled as Star stepped out and closed the door behind her, in her own spacesuit.

They walked off and paused on a ledge and they spotted a base in the distance.

"Oh, beautiful!" the Doctor grinned as he stared at it.

There was one large centre dome with six tunnels sprouting out. Five tunnels connected to smaller domes and one led to a rocket.

Star tensed as something was pushed against her back, "Um…Doctor…"

He looked over to see a small robot holding some sort gun against her back.

"Rotate slowly." The robot commanded. They glanced at each other as they raised their hands and slowly turned to face it, "You are under arrest. For trespassing. Gadget-gadget."

~.~

An older woman with blonde hair pointed her gun at the duo. "State you name, rank and intention."

"The Doctor..." He eyed the gun. "Doctor…" he stepped closer to Star, silently threatening the woman that he would harm her if she hurt Star. "Fun…?"

The woman nodded and turned to Star.

"Star…" she eyed the gun, as long as they didn't do anything to startle the woman she wouldn't shoot, "Learner? Adventure?"

A man opened a door and ran into the room, "What the hell?!" he stared at them, "It's a man! And a girl! A man and a girl on Mars! How?"

A young German woman with dirty blonde hair held up their spacesuit, "They were wearing these things. I have never seen anything like them."

"What did mission control say?"

"They're out of range for 10 hours with the solar flares."

"If we could cut the chat, everyone." the captain interrupted.

"Actually, chats second on my list." the Doctor remarked. "The first being the gun, pointed at her head..." he nodded at Star. "And my head. Which puts our heads second and chat third, I think. Gun, heads, chat, yeah."

Star shook her head at him, "He isn't very good making lists."

The Doctor pouted at her before turning to the captain, "But you could hurt someone with that's thing! Just put it down."

"Oh, you'd like that wouldn't you." the captain sneered.

"We would like that." Star mimicked her.

"Why should I trust you?" she eyed them suspiciously.

"Because we give you our word." the Doctor said calmly.

"Actually." Star corrected, "He gives you his word and I give you mind. I prefer to say it for myself. And 40 million miles away from home, our word is all you've got."

The captain continued to eye them as she slowly lowered her gun, "Keep Gadget covering them."

"Gadget-gadget." The robot spoke.

They looked over their shoulders, "Oh, right, so you control that thing." the Doctor said, "Auto-glove response."

"You got it!" The man showed them how he controlled the robot; "To the right..." he moved his right hand as Gadget also moved.

"Gadget-gadget."

"And to the left..." he moved his left hand and Gadget moved left.

"It's a bit of a flimsy job." Star commented, it wasn't hard to make a robot, she could even do a better job then that.

"Gadget-gadget!"

"Does it have to keep saying that?" the Doctor moaned.

"I think it's funny." the man glared at him.

"I hate funny robots."

"Excuse me, boss." A woman called over the radio, "Computer logs show we've got two extra people of site. How's that possible?"

"Keep the bio-dome closed," The Captain commanded, "And when using open comms, you call me Captain."

"Yes, but who are they?"

The Captain cut the comm. off.

"It can't be wild state flight because we'd know about it," the older man reasoned, "Therefore it's got to be one of the independents, yeah? Was it the Branson lot? They've talked about a Mars shot for years."

"Right, yes." the Doctor nodded, "Ok, you got us. So I'm the Doctor, this is Star. And you are?"

"Oh, come on." the captain scoffed, "We're the first off-world colonists in history. Everyone of Planet Earth knows who we are."

"You're the first?" the duo looked around the room, "Then...this is..."

"Bowie Base One." the Doctor, Star and the captain finished in unison.

"Number one?" the Doctor gaped, "Founded July 1st 2058. Bowie Base One in the Gusev Crater?" the Doctor looked at Star who looked back at him in horror, this was the exact reason why she didn't want to go to Mars in the first place! "You've been here how long!" the Doctor turned back to them.

"17 months." the Captain replied.

"So it's 2059?" Star breathed terrified and desperate to leave, "its 2059 right now?"

"And your captain Adelaide Brooke!" the Doctor turned to the captain.

"And Ed!" Star turned to the older man, "you're Deputy Edward Gold."

"Tarak Ital, MD." the Doctor looked over at the man who ran through the door earlier.

"Nurse Yuri Kerneski." Star turned to another man with black hair.

"Senior Technician Steffi Ehrlich." the Doctor turned to the woman holding their spacesuits.

"Junior Technician Roman Groom." Star turned to the man controlling Gadget.

"Geologist Mia Bennett, you're only 27 years old..."

"As I said," Adelaide continued, "Everyone knows are names."

"Oh, they'll never forget them, what's today's day?" He asked, urgently, "What is it? The exact date?"

"November 21st 2059."

Today. These poor innocent human would die today.

_'We're leaving'_ Star ordered, _'why do you never check the scanner?!'_

'_I…I was sure I got it right this time…im so sorry.'_

The Doctor gave her a quick nod, "Right. Ok, fine."

"Is there something wrong?" Steffi asked.

"What's so important about my age?" Mia asked, worried.

"We should go..." Star began, "Really...we HAVE to go."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry with all of my hearts, but it's one of those very rare times when we've got no choice. It's been an honour." the Doctor shook hands with them all, Star not daring too as it will prove that it was all real, that they just met the first humans on Mars, "Seriously, a...very great honour to meet you all. The Martian pioneers oh, thank you". He tapped Gadget on the head as he couldn't shake Ramon's hand.

"Gadget-gadget."

"Thank you." he saluted Adelaide, he turned to Star in the doorway, before for he remembered, "Where's the other two? Hold on..."

"Margaret Coin and Andrew Stone." Star finished.

"Maggie." Ed called into the radio, "If you want to meet the only other human beings that you're gonna see in the next 5 years, better come take a look."

Maggie didn't respond instead everyone heard a loud snarling noise.

'_Really. We need to go.' _Star said, urgently.

"What was that?" Mia asked, scared.

"Oh, we really should go." The Doctor murmured but he didn't move.

Star looked at him and then at the crew and back at him. She could see it, he wanted to help but they both knew they couldn't.

"This is Central." Ed called down them comm. "Bio-dome report immediately."

"Show me the Bio-dome." Adelaide moved next to Ed at the computers as he brought up the security footage but there was only static.

"Internal cameras are down."

"Show me the exterior."

Ed pulled up the camera for the exterior and the watched and the lights went out, one by one."

"Im going over," Adelaide stood and turned to the Time Lords, "Doctor, Star, with me."

"Yeah…sorry." The Doctor mumbled, "Um…we'd love to help, but…" he moved to get their suits back form Steffi. "We're leaving. Right now."

"Take their spacesuits." Adelaide ordered, "Lock them up," Steffi left with their suits, "this started as soon as you arrived, so you're not going anywhere, except with me."

"No." Star argued, "We're leaving, now!"

"You're staying with me."

Star narrowed her eyes at the woman.

Adelaide turned and ushered them to follow her out of the room, handing them torches, leading them down a tunnel with Tarak and Gadget.

~.~

The Doctor held Stars hand as they walked, he didn't care if she would shake it off at any moment, right now he could feel her body shaking and this was the only way he could comfort her at the moment, he held a sigh in as her hand slipped out her his grip and she stopped slightly further away from him as they continued walking.

"What's go important about Mia's age?" Adelaide as the Doctor as the walked on, "You said she's only 27, why does it matter, what did you mean?"

"Oh, I just…open my mouth and words come out." He tried to wave off, "they don't make much sense."

"You're telling me." Tarak remarked.

"Thank you, doctor."

"Anytime, Doctor."

"Gadget-gadget!"

The Doctor looked over his shoulder at the robot, "I hate robots. Did I say?"

"Yeah, and he's not too find of you." Roman said over the robots comm. "what's wrong with robots?"

"It's not robots, it's the people. Dressing them up and giving them silly voices, like you're reducing them."

"Yeah. Friend of mine, she made her domestic robot look like a dog."

"Ah, well, dogs, that's different."

"But I adapted Gadget out of the worker drones. Those things are huge! They built this place when the shall was lowered down from orbit. They've got a strength capacity of..."

"The Channel is open for essential communications only." Adelaide cut them off.

"Sorry. Love those drones."

The Doctor eyed Adelaide, "We've read quite a lot about you, Captain Adelaide. But one thing they never said was it worth it? The mission?"

"We've got excellent results from the soil analysis."

"Yeah, but...they say you sacrificed everything." Star added quietly, "Devoted your whole life to get here."

"It's been chaos back home. 40 long years, the climate, the ozone, the oil apocalypse. We almost reached extinction. And to fly above that, to stand on a world with no smoke, where the only straight line is the sunlight, yes. It's worth it."

"Ahh!" the Doctor grinned, "that's the Adelaide Brooke I always wanted to meet. The woman with starlight in her soul."

"What's that?" Adelaide stopped suddenly; "it's Maggie!" they all ran over to her.

"Don't touch her." Star warned them.

"I know the procedure." Tarak rolled his eyes, "Maggie, can you hear me? It's Tarak. Maggie?" he rolled her over and sighed in relief, "it's ok. She's still breathing. She's alive." The Doctor and Star glanced down the dimly lit tunnel. "Yuri." he called into the comm. "I've got Margaret Cain, head trauma. I need a full med-pack."

"I've got it." Yuri responded, "Med-pack on its way."

A moment later Yuri and Ed ran down the tunnel varying a med-pack and a stretcher.

"Don't touch her." Star warned again.

"Use the gloves." the Doctor agreed.

"Do what they say." Tarak nodded, "Get her to the sickbay. Put her in isolation."

"We're going to the Bio-dome." Adelaide told them as she stood up, "Tarak, with me. Yuri can take care of her. Ed, go back. Gadget, stand guard. Keep an eye on this area."

"Gadget-gadget!"

"Captain." Ed said, "You're going to need me. Andy's the only other crew member out there. And if that wasn't an accident, then he's gone wild."

Adelaide tensed and looked at Ed, "you're deserted your post. Consider that an official warning. Now, get back to work. Doctor! Star!" she walked off.

The Doctor casted a look at the others before he and Star followed Adelaide to the Bio-dome.

"Captain, that sound we heard from the bio-dome..." Steffi said over the comm. "I've run it though diagnostics. According to the computer, it's...its Andy. It registers as the voice-print of Andy Stone."

"Understood." Adelaide nodded, "Double-check, thanks."

"Air pressure stabilised." Tarak called from the control panel. The door opened as Adelaide stepped in followed by the Doctor, Star and Tarak.

"Andrew?" Adelaide called, "Andrew Stone? It's Captain Brooke. Andy, report. I need to see you. Where are you?"

The Doctor soniced the computer. The lights came back on. "There you go."

"What's that device?" Adelaide eyes it.

"Screwdriver." he flipped it and put it in his pocket again.

"Are you the Doctor or the Janitor?"

"I don't know, sounds like me. The maintenance man of the universe."

Star snorted at that, "you never clean up after yourself."

"That's not true..." she gave him a look, and he scratched the back oh his head, "yeah, ok, it is. But your messy too."

"You stay with me. Don't step out of my sight. Tarak..." Adelaide turned to him, "you go with the girl, go to the external door south. Make sure it's intact..."

"Um, no." the Doctor interrupted, "Star stays with me." Adelaide opened her mouth to argue, "No. She stays with me." Adelaide raised her eyebrows at him before he gaze moved to Star who could only shrug, he was protective of her and honestly right now, on Bowie Base One she would rather stay with him.

"Yes, ma'am." Tarak nodded and went on his way.

"Quite an achievement." the Doctor commented, looking at all the plants, "first flows on Mars in 100,000 years. And you're growing veg!"

"It's that lot." Adelaide said, "They're already growing Christmas diner. Last year it was dehydrated protein, this year they want the real thing."

"Still. Fair enough. Christmas."

"If we must."

Star looked up, hearing birds chirp, "you've got birds." She had to smile at that.

"Its part of the project, to keep the insect population down."

"Good sign."

"In what way?"

Star looked at her, "They're still alive."

"Captain?" Yuri came on the comm. "Good news. It's Maggie. She's awake, she's back with us." His voice quietened as he spoke to Maggie. "Hey. How are you, soldier? Just take it easy. Can you remember what happened?"

"I was just working." She replied. "Then I woke…woke up here."

"What about Andy?" Adelaide asked, "We can't find him. Was he all right?"

"I don't know, I just…"

"If you remember anything, let me know straightaway."

"Yuri." Ed called on the comm. "does she know how she ended up in the tunnel?"

"And keep the comms, clear. Everything goes through me, got that?"

The trio walked on in silence that was before…

"This is sickbay," Yuri came back on the comm. "we have a situation. Maggie's condition has…I don't know…I don't know what it is. Its water, just…pouring out."

"Yuri, calm down." Adelaide told him. "Just tell me what happened to her."

"The skin is…sort of broken around the mouth. And she's exuding water, like she's drowning."

"Tarak, this area's unsafe, we're going back. Tarak? Tarak!"

"Where was he?" the Doctor asked, urgently.

Adelaide took off, running for the south door, the Doctor and Star right behind her. Adelaide stopped; Star grabbed the Doctors arm as he continued running. At the end of the row, they watched as Andy stood over a kneeling Tarak, Andy's hand pressed against his head, water pouring over him.

The Doctor and Adelaide slowly walked towards him, Star staying back not wanting to get anymore involved than they already have.

"Andy." The Doctor called to him, hesitantly, "just leave him alone."

"Step away from him." Adelaide ordered, raising her gun at him.

"I can help. I promise. I can help. Just leave that man alone."

"I order you to stop!"

"Andy, im asking you, please just take you hand away from him and listen to me."

"Stop or I'll shoot!"

Andy looked at them and removed his hand. Tarak collapsed to the floor.

"There now, that's better. Hmm? So, you must be Andy." He moved forwards slowly, "hello."

Tarak looked over at them, his mouth cracked, eye white and water dripping from him, just like Andy was, they guessed that Maggie looked the same.

"We really have to go." Star whispered to them.

The three of them ran back to the airlock, Andy and Tarak chasing them. Adelaide ran first, followed by Star and the Doctor who slammed the door behind him as the men reached them.

"Set the seals to maximum!" the Doctor ordered as Andy raised his arm and shot water at the door. Andy lowered his arm and looked at them through the window before pounding on the door.

"Captain." Steffi came on the comm. "we need you back here."

"Just tell me that Maggie is contained." Adelaide called, "Can you confirm, Ed?"

"Confirmed." Ed responded, "She's locked in."

"Keep surveillance till I get back. And close down all water supplies. All pipes and outlets, don't consume anything. Have you got that, everyone? That's an order. Don't drink the water. Don't even touch it. Not one drop."

"Can you talk?" the Doctor frowned at Andy, before looking at Adelaide, "Human beings are 60% water, which makes them the perfect host."

"What for?"

"We don't know." Star answered, "and we never will…we need to go." She locked eyes with the Doctor, "whatever's started here, we can't see it to the end."

'_Yes. Right, we're going now.'_

Just then Andy slammed his hands against the door and Tarak joined him. Together, they shot water out of their mouths at the door seals.

"This thing's airtight, yeah?" the Doctor asked, as he pulled Star further behind him.

"And therefore watertight." Adelaide nodded.

"Depends how clever the water is." The control panel sparked. "They're fusing the system."

"Abandon ship." The Doctor pushed the girls out before him and they ran down the tunnel, Andy and Tarak managing to get though the door and followed them. The Doctor stopped as they reached Gadget.

"Doctor, we haven't got time!" Adelaide cried, breathless.

"They can run faster than us, we need a lift!" he soniced the robot.

"Gadget-gadget."

The Doctor fiddled with the wires. "Star, on!" Star hopped on the robot, trusting him. The Doctor climbed on behind her. "Get on behind me!"

"That thing goes at 2 miles an hour!" Adelaide argued.

"Not anymore! Trust me." She climbed on behind him.

"Gadget-gadget!"

"Gadget-Gadget!" the Doctor repeated as he started the robot up.

Flames shot out of the exhaust and a trail of flame was left behind. Andy and Tarak still chased them. Adelaide held on to the Doctor tightly as the Doctor wrapped his arms around Star, both of them holding onto the front of the robot.

"The Central Dome airlocks have got Hardinger seal." Adelaide remarked as they hopped of Gadget, she ran to the control panel and unlocked the door, "there's no way they can get in."

They ran though, the Doctor keeping the door open for the robot, "come on, come on!"

"Gadget-gadget."

"I thought you hated robots!"

"I do!"

"We do, unless they help save our lives." Star corrected, thinking of K9.

Gadget made it inside and the Doctor closed the door, just as Andy and Tarak reached them.

"We're safe," Adelaide gasped, "it's hermetically sealed. They can't get in."

"Water is patient, Adelaide," the Doctor muttered, "water just waits. It wears down the cliff tops, the mountains, the whole of the world. Water always wins. Come on!" they ran off, Adelaide following.

"The Bio-dome is out of bounds," Adelaide reported into the comm. "Andy and Tarak are infected. Repeat, infected. Make no contact and if they make the slightest move, tell me. I'm going to the medical dome."

They ran down the tunnel towards the medical dome with the Doctor remarking, "Blimey, it's a distance. You could do with bikes in this place."

"Every pound of weight equals 3 tonnes of fuel."

"Yeah, I know, but...bikes."

Star looked at Adelaide as she looked at the Doctor as though he was mad, "I just go along with him."

~.~

They ran into the medical dome as Ed watched Maggie as she stood at the window.

"Has that door got a Hardinger seal?" Adelaide asked.

"No, just basic." He replied.

"Then the moment she heads for the door, we evacuate. Got that?"

"Pulse is low. Electrical activity in the brain seems to be going haywire."

"Can she talk?"

"Don't know." Yuri shook his head. "She was before we noticed the change, but..."

"Maggie? Can you hear me? Do you know who I am? Your commanding officer, Captain Adelaide Brooke. Can you tell me what happened?"

"Hoorghwall in schtochman ahn warrellinsh och fortabellan tin hoorgwahn." Star called, frowning at Maggie.

"What language is that?" Ed eyed her.

"Ancient North Martian." The Doctor answered.

"Don't be ridiculous." Adelaide scoffed.

"It's like she recognised it." Ed frowned at Maggie as her eyes widened.

"And her eyes are different," the Doctor noticed, "they're clear, like she's closer to human."

"Not close enough for me."

"Where do you get your water from?" Star asked.

"The ice field," Adelaide replied, "that's why we chose the crater, we're on top of an underground glacier."

"Tons of water." the Doctor nodded, marvellous." they were surrounded by water.

"But every single drop is filtered," Yuri added, "it's screened, it's safe."

"Yeah," Star replied, sarcastically as she nodded at Maggie, "safe. Totally."

"If something was frozen down there..." Ed began, "a viral life form, held in the ice for all those years."

"Look at her mouth," the Doctor nodded at Maggie, "all blackened, like there's some sort of fission. This thing, whatever it is, doesn't just hide in water, it CREATES water. Tell me what you want."

"She was looking at the screen, at Earth." Yuri said, "She wanted Earth. A world full of water."

"Captain, with me," Ed cut in, heading to the other side of the room with Adelaide. "I'm sorry, but it's an unknown infection and it's spreading. That demands Action Procedure One."

"You think I don't know that?" Adelaide demanded.

"I think you need reminding."

She sighed, "Yeah."

"Well at least I'm good for something."

"Now and again."

"That's almost a compliment" he half smiled at her. "Must be serious."

"Sorry." the Doctor cut in, "sorry, but... action One, that means evacuation, yeah?"

"Were going home," they called into the comm. "this is Captain Brooke. I'm declaring Action One, repeat to all crew members, this is Action One, with immediate effect. Evacuate the base." she waited a moment before speaking again, "Steffi, what's your estimate on shuttle viability?"

"A 9 month flight..." Steffi replied, "It'll take 3 hours to load what we need."

"You've got 20 minutes. And give me a report on Andy and Tarak."

"Still in the Bio-dome tunnel. They're just standing there, like they're waiting."

"Keep an eye in then. And make that 20 minutes 15! Ed, line up the shuttle, go straight to ignition status!"

"Doing it now," Ed ran out of the room.

"But what about Maggie?" Yuri asked.

"She stays behind," Adelaide said as she started packing some supplies, "we've got no way to contain her on board. Close this place down. I want the power directed to the shuttle."

"Of course the only problem is…" the Doctor began.

"Thank you, Doctor, Star. Your spacesuits will be returned. And good luck to you."

"The problem is, this thing is clever, it didn't infect the birds or the insects in the Bio-Dome, it chose the humans. You were chosen. And I told you, Adelaide, water can wait. Tarak changed straight away, but when Maggie was infected it stayed hidden inside her, no doubt, so it could infiltrate the Central Dome. Which means…"

"Any one of us could already be infected; we've all been drinking the same water."

"And if we take that back to Earth… Star nodded, "one drop, just one drop."

"But we're only presuming infection, if we can find out how this thing got through, when it got through…Yuri, continue with Action One, im going to inspect the ice-field." She headed out the door.

"Now, we can leave." Star looked at the Doctor. "Finally, we can go."

"Yeah," the Doctor nodded, crossing his arms, "no point in us seeing the ice-field. No point at all. No." he paused in thought, if they were planning to evacuate, then they needed to make sure that it did happen. "Adelaide!" he ran after the woman. Star groaned before she followed aswell.

Star bit her lip, as she always did whenever she was worried or nervous. It was easy for them to catch up with Adelaide.

"All im saying is bikes." The Doctor remarked, "Little fold away bikes. Don't weigh a thing."

Adelaide pushed the door at the end of the tunnel open and ran into the ice-field room, overlooking the large squares of ice, that they could easily cut and melt.

"They tell legends of Mars, from long ago." Star muttered. "From long ago, a fine and noble race who built an empire out of snow. The ice warriors." She let out a small emotionless laugh, "reminds me of Queen Elsa."

"I haven't got time for stories." Adelaide waved off.

"Perhaps they found something down there." The Doctor reasoned, "Used their might and their wisdom to freeze it."

"Doctor!" Adelaide headed to a computer, "we need to find any sort of change in the water process. We've got to date the infection."

The Doctor tried to access the computer while Adelaide worked on another.

"Access denied." The Doctors computer called.

"Here, let me have a go." Star said as she typed away, trying to hack the computer.

"You don't look like cowards," Adelaide eyed them, "but all you've wanted to do is leave. You know so much about us."

"Well, you're famous." The Doctor shrugged off.

"Its like you know more."

The Doctor glanced at Star who looked at him warningly, if he said the wrong thing…"This moment, this precise moment in time, it's like…I mean it's only a theory. What do I know? But I think certain moments in time are fixed. Tiny, precious moments. Everything else is in flux; anything can happen, but those certain moments, they have to stand. This base, on Mars, with you, Adelaide Brooke, this is one vital moment. What happens here must always happen."

"Which is what?" Adelaide tensed at his words.

"We don't know." Star answered quickly.

"I think something wonderful happens," the Doctor added, trying to comfort the woman who was obviously trying to cover up how scared she was, "something that started 50 years ago, isn't that right?"

"I never told anyone that…" Adelaide breathed.

"You told your daughter. And maybe, one day, she tells the story to her daughter of the day the Earth was stolen and moved across the universe. And you…"

"I saw the Daleks. We looked up, the sky had changed. Everyone was running and screaming. And my father took hold of me… I never saw him again. Nor my mother. They were never found. But out on the streets, there was panic and burning. I went to the window. And there in the sky…I saw it, Doctor. And it saw me. It stared at me. It looked right into me. And then…it simply went away. I knew that night; I knew I would follow it."

"But not for revenge."  
"What would be the point of that?"

"That's what makes you remarkable. And that's how you create history."  
"What do you mean?"

"Imagine it, Adelaide," he breathed, "if you began a journey that takes the human race all the way out to the stars. It begins with you. And then your granddaughter, you inspire her so that in 30 years, Susie Fontana Brooke is the pilot of the first light-speed ship to Proxima Centauri."

"And then everywhere. With her children, and her children's children forging the way to the Dragon Star, the Celestrial Belt of the Winter Queen, the map of the Water Snake Wormholes."

He didn't stop he continued as though she hadn't said a word. "One day a Brooke will fall in love with a Tandonian prince, and that's the start of a whole new species. But everything starts with you, Adelaide. From 50 years ago, to right here, today. Imagine."

"Who are you? Why are you telling me this? Doctor, why tell me?"

"As consolation." Star whispered, she knew how hard it was for him, to talk to such a remarkable woman and know that later today she and her crew would all die in a horrible explosion and they couldn't do a single thing about it.

Just then the computer beeped and it shows Andy's records.

"Andy Stone," Star read the screen, "he logged on yesterday."

She played the video and Andy came on. "Maintenance log, 21.20, November 2059, number 3 water filters bust. And guess what? The spares they sent don't fit. What a surprise. Over and out." He shut the camera off.

"A filter." The Doctor nodded slowly, "one tiny little filter and then the flood."  
"But that means the infection arrived today," Adelaide sighed in relief, "and the waters only cycled out of the Bio-Dome after a week. The rest of us can't be infected. We can leave!" she called into the radio; "Ed, we're clean! How are we doing?"

"Shuttles active," he replied, "stage one!"

Adelaide nodded as she, the Doctor and Star ran back to the Central Dome.

"You were right, Doctor." Adelaide commented as they ran.

"What about?" he frowned.

"Bikes!" he chuckled as they the control room. Adelaide went and got the Doctor and Star's spacesuits and handed them to them, "now get to your ship, im saving my people, you save yourselves. I know what this moment is. It's the moment we escape. Now get out!"

They stood at the doors, watching in pain knowing that they weren't about to escape.

They watched as they shouted to each other, making sure they had everything they would need.

'_Do you here a beeping noise?' _Star asked and sure enough two blinking red dots signified that two crew members were on the domes roof.

The crew continued packing for a bit longer before Adelaide also noticed the noise, "What the hell's that noise?" she demanded, "Mia, you lot, shut up."

Everyone quietened as the beeping continued.

"It's the module sensors." Ed remarked, "exterior as well. The cameras are down, but there's pressure on top of the module. Two signals right above us."

"That means…"Steffi breathed, "They're on the roof?"

They all looked up.  
"How did they get inside the Dome?" Roman wondered.

"They used the maintenance shafts." Ed explained.

"The shaft's open, they haven't got spacesuits." Mia whispered, scared as she took Yuri's hand.

"They breathe water." Ed said.

"But they'll freeze." Steffi argued.

"They've got that internal fission." Yuri shook his head.

"Are we safe?" Mia began to panic, "they can't get through, can they? Can they?"

The ceiling creaked and water began to fall through.

"This place is airtight!" Roman cried.

"Can it get though?" Steffi turned to Ed, "Ed? Can it get through?"

"I don't know!" he admitted, "water itself isn't mortile, but it has some resistance."

"Everyone, listen to me!" Adelaide commanded, "That's 10 feet of steel-combination up there. We need all the protein-packs or we'll starve. Now keep working!" they began to pack again, "Roman, watch the ceiling. Ed, get to the shuttle, fire it up."  
"I can carry more that this lot, captain." Ed complained.

"That's an order!"

"Captain." He ran out to the shuttle.

'_We need to go." _Star insisted, tugging on the Doctors arm, _'Please.'_

They turned and walked out of the room, neither looking back, putting their suits on in silence.

~.~

They stepped into the airlock and closed the door.

The Doctor pressed a button to open the other door but…

"Access denied." The computer called.

The Doctor tried again…

"Access denied."

"Tell me what happens." Adelaide came on the radio.

"We don't know." Star answered.

"Yes, you do. Now tell me."

"You should be with the others." The Doctor said.

"Tell me! I could ramp up the pressure in that airlock and crush you."  
"Except you wont." The Doctor argued, "you could have shot Andy Stone, but you didn't. I loved you for that. Imagine...imagine you knew something. Imagine you found yourself somewhere, I don't know, Pompeii, imagine you were in Pompeii"

Star closed her eyes at that, she could imagine that he had gotten the dates wrong or piloted wrong and ended up in Pompeii on volcano day, it was just like him.

"What the hell's that got to do with it?" Adelaide snapped.

"And you tried to save them, but, in doing so, you make it happen. Anything I do just makes it happen."

"Captain, we need you right now." Steffi called from a distance.

"I'm still here." Adelaide spoke after a moment.

The Doctor swallowed, "you're taking Action One. There are 4 more standard action procedures. And Action Five is…?"  
"Detonation."

"The final option." Star breathed.

The Doctor swallowed again, "The nuclear device at the heart of the Central Dome. Today, on the 21st November 2059, Captain Adelaide Brooke activates that device, taking the base and all her crew members with hr. no-one ever knows why. But you were saving Earth. That's what inspires your granddaughter. She takes your people out into the galaxy, because you die, on Mars. You die, today. She flies out there like she's trying to meet you."

"I won't die." Adelaide refused softly, "I will not."

"But your death creates the future."

"Help me. Why won't you help, Doctor, if you know all of this? Why can't you change it?"

"We can't." Star shook her head, "im sorry, but we…we just can't."

"Why can't you find a way? Tell me."

"Adelaide im sorry," the Doctor said, sincerely, "we can't, im sorry, but we can't. Sometime we cant, sometimes we do. Most time, we can save someone. Or anyone. But not you. You wondered all your life why that Dalek spared you. I think it knew. Your death is fixed, in time, for ever. And that's right."

"You'll die here too."

"No."

"What's gonna save you?"

"Captain Adelaide Brooke."

"Damn you." She murmured as she pressed a button to allow them to leave.

The airlock door opened and they walked out onto the surface of Mars but they did didn't move, they listen as they heard everything they said.

They heard as water fell into the room. As Yuri almost got dripped on from trying to get to the shuttle.

"Im sorry," the Doctor whispered to Star as she shook, "Im so sorry."

"Let's just go," She whispered back. And so they walked on back to the TARDIS, listening to the crew shouted as they neared the end of their lifes.

Adelaide took charge again, redirecting them to the shuttle…however Steffi got trapped by the water, she shouted for help.

Star stared straight ahead as they walked, as she shook.

They heard them cry out to Steffi as she was trapped, then they heard to Germen children speak, obviously a video of the woman's daughters, she wanted her children to be the last thing she saw and heard before she turned.

Then Ed was shouting from the shuttle, telling them that it was ready; they were ready for take off. And then Roman, Roman urged the others to go on as he too was dripped on.

The Doctor closed his eyes as they walked.

And the Ed was shouting again, but this time it was bad news, Maggie had hit him, he blew the shuttle up, stopping them from leaving.

The blast knocked the Time Lords to the ground.

The Doctor looked back at the devastation. And them with a look of grim determination, he headed back to the base.

"Doctor!" Star screamed running after him, "No! You can't do this! Please!"

"It's okay." He smiled at her, "Go back to the TARDIS, it'll be fine."

"No! Doctor!" she yelled after him but he ran to the base "please…"

But it was too late, the darkness...the darkness had consumed him…there was no stopping him. And so with one more final disappointed glance she ran back to the TARDIS, running a hand over her hair in her stress.

This. This is why she was afraid of herself, there would be a day, in her future where she would do this, her darkness would consume her and she would change a fixed point in time, just because she felt like it, because she wanted to, and she was afraid of that day.

~.~

Star fell to the ground and curled up into a ball and shook. She didn't want this but she couldn't do anything about it, there was nothing she could do.

Then she heard him shouting at her in her mind, _'Star! Star!' _but she ignored him, he wanted to save them, he'd do it himself.

She could do it. She could teleport back to the base right now, she could teleport the Doctor back out, she could, they could leave and forget this whole thing ever happened. She hated to think that is was that bad that she would actually use her insanity.

But then something thumped against the TARDIS doors, her eyes widened in horror as Gadget entered and made its way to the console.

"Gadget-gadget."

Star backed off, a look of pure disgust on her face, oh, she hoped the Doctor could see what she thought of him right now, she'd always thought so much of him, everything he'd done and lost for the universe and now this.

She closed her eyes as the TARDIS dematerialised and re-materialised in the base. The Doctor and surviving crew members entered and the dematerialised again just as the base exploded.

The Doctor took no noticed of anyone as he piloted them away and stepped out of his suit.

~.~

The Doctor stepped out onto the snow; he turned to the crew as the followed and grinned at them. "Isn't anyone going to thank me?"

Star leaned against the TARDIS doors, disappointment showing in her eyes.

Gadget trundled out and shut down.

"He's lost his signal." The Doctor looked down at the robot, "Doesn't know where he is."

"That's my house." Adelaide gasped.

"Don't you get it? This is the 21st November 2059. Same day on Earth," he looked up at the sky, "and it's snowing. I love snow."

"What is that thing?" Mia breathed, terrified, "It's bigger…I mean, it's bigger on the inside! Who the hell are you?" she ran off.

Yuri made a move to follow but hesitated at looked at Adelaide.

"Look after her." Adelaide ordered him.

"Yes, ma'am." He ran after Mia.

"You saved us." Adelaide eyed the Doctor.

"Just think though," He grinned at her, "your daughter, and your daughter's daughter, you can see them again. Family reunion."

"But im supposed to be dead."

"Not any more."  
"But Susie, my granddaughter, the person she's supposed to become might never exist now."

"Nah! Captain Adelaide can inspire her face-to-face. Different details, but the story's the same."

"You can't know that." She argued. "And if my family changes, the whole of history could change. The future of the human race. No-one should have that power."

"Tough."

Adelaide backed away from him, "You should have left us there."

"Adelaide, ive done this sort of thing before, in small ways, saved some little people. But never someone as important as you. Oh, im good!"

"Little people!" she glared at him, "What, like Mia and Yuri? Who decides they're so unimportant? You?"

"For a long time now, I thought I was just a survivor, but im not. Im the winner. That's who I am. The Time Lord Victorious."

Adelaide looked over at Star, who hugged herself at looked at the ground, "Can't you stop him?"

The Doctor snorted at that, there was nothing she could do. He was her father, she couldn't argue with him.

Star strode over to him, fuming in anger, which she knew really was not good; "Do you have any idea what you've done? How many laws you've broken?"

"We're the last." He smirked at her, "There's no one left to enforce them anymore."  
Star closed her eyes in her disgust, "You know, I've always been told that im a disease. A danger. A MONSTER. But right now, you're the monster!" and with that she slapped him across the face, hard. Living a bright red mark.

"This is wrong." Adelaide breathed, "I don't care who you are. The Time Lord Victorious is wrong."

"That's more me to decide." He grinned smugly, "Now you'd better get home. Oh, it's all locked up, you've been away. Still that's easy." He pulled out the sonic and unlocked the door. "All yours."

"Is there nothing you can't do?"

"Not any more."

She walked into her house as Star ran inside the TARDIS just as a gunshot ran out from the house.

Star closed the door as she heard the Doctor whisper, "I've gone too far." He entered as she made her way to the other side of the console, not wanting anything to do with him. "Nova?" he called to her hesitantly.

She whipped around and strode over to him, flashing her crimson eyes at him.

"You're eyes have gone red."

"I don't care!" she snapped at him, she'd kept it bottled up for so long, she couldn't hold her anger any more, "I had always been afraid of myself, dreading that one day I'd become corroded and do something like that, but I was wrong, I shouldn't have been afraid, there's no point if anyone can be that bad." And then she fell to the floor.

"Nova!" the Doctor caught her just in time, "What is it? What's wrong?"

"My head." She grounded out, "the Ood…the Oods song."

The Doctor looked back at the door, knowing what or more who was out there. "I'll be right back." And he headed back out the door.

~.~

He came back inside the TARDIS moments later, tears rolling down his cheeks as he knew it was time.

Star looked up at him for a moment but couldn't, she clenched her eyes shut, he didn't know what she was capable of, he left his mind shield down, she seen Ood Sigma outside, singing to him, and she knew his time was coming. His death was approaching. And it was about damn time.

**Guest: not long now till TEOT :)**


	6. The end of time part 1

Star stepped out of the TARDIS and into the snow of the Ood sphere. The Doctor appeared in the doorway wearing a straw hat and a pink lei behind her.

"Ah!" he smiled as he spotted Ood Sigma, "Now! Sorry! There you are." he closed the door behind him as he stepped into the snow, his hands in his pockets, "So, where are we? I was summoned, wasn't I! An Ood, in the snow, calling me. Well, I didn't exactly come straight here. Had a bit of fun, y'know, travelled about, did this and that. Got into trouble, you know me. It was brilliant. We saw the Phosphorous Carousel of the Great Magellan Gestadt. Saved a planet from the Red Carnivorous Maw. Named a Galaxy Alison. Almost got behead." He winced at the memory.

"Yes," Star cleared her throat as she stepped out, "well, maybe if you didn't agree to marry her." They'd gone for a quick visit, bumped into Queen Elizabeth the 1st, she flirted with him and somehow he ended up agreeing to marry her, then Star threatened the woman and then Elizabeth wanted them both behead.

The Doctor winced again, ever since Mars she had been a lot touchier on where they went, she was more closed of. She wasn't happy with half the places they went, and he didn't think getting almost married helped, but it was an accident, honest.

"Anyway...what d'you want?"

"You should not have delayed," Sigma stated.

"The last time I was here, you said my song would be ending soon. And I'm in no hurry for that."

"You will come with me."

"Hold on, better lock the TARDIS," he reached into his pocket and pulled a small key out of his pocket and pointed it at the doors, making it sound like a car locking, "see?" he turned back to Ood Sigma, "like a car. I locked it like a car. Like...it's funny, no? Little bit,"

"He thinks he's hilarious." Star rolled he eyes at him.

"Blimey, try to make an Ood laugh," the Doctor grumbled. "Did you find it funny?" he turned to Star.

"No." she shook her head but the corners of her mouth twitched into a small smile.

"That was a smile."

"Shut up." She narrowed her eyes at him.

He grinned, she didn't deny it was a smile, he got her to smile, and that was something.

"So how old you now, Ood Sigma?" he asked the Ood as they walked. They spotted a beautiful city curved out of snow and ice,

"Oh beautiful." Star smiled at it.

"Ah! Magnificent!" he nudged Sigma, "Oh, come on! That is splendid! You've achieved all this in how long?"

"100 years." he replied.

"Then we've got a problem," both the Doctors and Stars smiled fade, "'Cos all of this is way too fast. Not just the city, I mean your ability to call me. Reaching all the way to the 21st century. Something's accelerating your species way beyond normal."

"And the Mind of the Ood is troubled." Sigma told them.

"Why, what's happened?" Star asked.

"Every night. Every night, we have bad dreams."

"Returning, returning, returning, it is slowly returning," they heard someone whispering. They followed it until they reached a dark chamber where the elder Ood were gathered around a small table, releasing a smoke that aids a trance state.

"Through the dark and the fire and the blood, always returning, returning to this world." the elder Ood chanted, "it is returning and he is returning and they are returning, but too late, too late, far too late, he is come."

"Sit with the Elder of the Ood and share the dreaming." Sigma gestured for them to sit.

"So...right," the Doctor join the circle with Star on his left. "Hello."

"You will join," the Elders chanted, "You will join. You will join. Your will join. You will join. You will join. You will join."

They held hands, forming a circle. The Time Lords pulled away after a moment after seeing the laughing face of the Master, but in equal horror and shock.

"He comes to us every night." one of the elders said, "I think all the people's of the universe dream of him now."

"But...that's impossible." Star shook her head; "You told me he died," Star accused the Doctor.

She knew who he was of course, the Doctor ex-best friend. Her best friend's father, the man who can hear a 4 beat drumming in his head.

"There is yet more." the Ood continued, "Join us." they held hands once again, "Events are taking shape, so many years ago, and yet changing the now. There is a man..." they could hear the Master laughing as they saw Wilf, sitting at his kitchen table, clearly worried, "So afraid..."

"Wilfred!" the Doctor gasped, "Is he alright? What about Donna? Is she safe?"

"You should not have delayed," the elder warned, "For the lines of convergence are being drawn across the Earth, even now. The king is in his counting house.

The image flashed to a black man and young woman, most likely father and daughter, both well-dressed, sitting in a room.

"We don't know who they are." The Doctor shook his head.

"And there is another. The most lonely of all, lost and forgotten."

"The Masters wife," the Doctor frowned as he spotted Lucy Saxon in a cell, crying.

"We see so much, but understand little. The woman in the cage, who is she?"

"I'd like to know that too." Star agreed, she knew of what the Master had done during the-year-that-never-was, she had begged the Doctor to tell her about some of his past adventures and that one came up, how Martha walked the Earth for a fake gun make him believe she would kill him. How the world was under his entire command from on board the Valiant. How time went back and the year never happened but only the ones on the Valiant remembered, how Lucy had shot him and he refused to regenerate, he had died.

"She was…it wasn't her fault, she was…the Master, and he's a Time Lord, like us. I can show you." They Joined hands and the Doctor showed them the Master from when he was Harold Saxon, "The Master took the name Saxon. He married a human, a woman called Lucy. And he corrupted her. She stood at his side while he conquered the Earth. I reversed everything he'd done, so it never even happened. But Lucy Saxon remembered." He showed them Lucy shooting the Master, how he had died, him holding the man as he died, him burning his body on pyre. "I held him in my arms. I burnt his body!"

"And yet, you did not see…" the Elder said, he showed them the Doctor walking away…but another woman walking towards it and picking up something from the ashes.

"Part of him survived," the Doctor gasped, as he and Star tried to stand, but the Ood kept hold of them. "We have to go!"

"But something more is happening," the Elder Ood continued, "the Master is part of a greater design, because a shadow is falling over creation. Something vast is stirring in the dark." He looked up to reveal his red eyes, "the Ood have gained this power to see through time because time is bleeding." The other Oods also looked up the reveal their eyes were red aswell. "Shapes of things once lost are moving through the veil. And these events from years ago threaten to destroy this future. And the present and the past."

"What do you mean?" Star frowned.

"This is what we have seen. The darkness heralds only one thing, the end of time."

The Doctors eyes widened and he jumped up pulling Star with him the ram out of the cave and back to the TARDIS.

"Get they key!" Star shouted, they did not have time to fumble about trying to get the doors open.

He quickly pulled it out and clicks it unlocking the doors allowing them to run straight in and up to the controls.

The TARDIS sparked as they piloted her.

Star muttering some apologises to the box as they finally landed, they ran out the doors.

"We were too late." Star whispered as they looked at the remains of Broadfell prison where Lucy was locked up, the place burnt down.

~.~

The Time Lords climbed a pile of dirt at a shipyard, looking out into the site.

The inhaled deeply, their eyes closed.

Star snapped her eyes open as she heard a faint banging, banging a 4 beat rhyme.

"This way!" She shouted before dragging him off following the noise.

They spotted a figure running along a ridge of dirt, the Master roared at them, leaping into the air and laughing. They chased after him. It wouldn't surprise Star if he didn't even recognise her as a Time Lady; he would most likely only sense the Doctor and assume her as another companion.

"Please, let us help!" the Doctor cried, "You're burning up your own life force."

"Stop, please!" Star called.

But the Master jumped again, jumping behind a stack of metal girders. They reached the metal beams when...they bumped into Wilf.

"Oh, my gosh, Doctor, Star." Wilf rushed over to them, "You're a sight for sore eyes."

"Out of my way!" the Doctor pushed past and climbed the metal girders to look for the Master.

"It's too late, Doctor." Star called, "he'd be gone now."

"Did we do it?" an older man asked, as he and a group of other elderly people came to join them, "is that them?"

"Tall thin, big brown coat." another man observed, "blonde, purple shirt, no shoes."

"The silver cloak!" an older woman cheered, "it worked. Cos Wilf phones Netty, who phones June, and her sister lives opposite Broadfell, and she saw the police box, and her neighbour saw this man heading easy with the girl."

"Wilfred?" the Doctor hissed at the man, "Have you told them who we are? You promised!"

"No." he replied, "I just said you were a Doctor and you were his daughter, that's all. And might I say, sir, ma'am, it is an honour to see you again." he saluted them.

The Doctor returned the saluted with a wry smile as Star nodded at the man.

"Ooh, but you never said he was a looker!" the woman continued, as he looked the Doctor up and down, "he's gorgeous, take a photo." She handed a camera to a man and the group all crowded around the two Time Lords, much to Stars discomfort as she dodged them and stood at the side. "Im Minnie. Minnie the Menace. It's been a long time since I had a photo with a handsome man." She stood next to him, her arm around his waist.

"Just get off him," Wilf rolled his eyes at his friends, "Leave him alone, will you?"

"Hush, you old misery. Come on, Doctor. Give us a smile." She pinched his cheeks, "that's it!"

"Hold on…" the man clicked the camera, "Did it flash?"

"No, there's a blue light, try again."

"Im all fingers and thumbs."

"Here let me." Star took the camera from the man, "You can get in the picture too."

"Star…" the Doctor looked at her, clearly uncomfortable, "We are really busy."

"And one picture won't take long."

"Oh, it won't take a tick," Minnie agreed. "Keep smiling."

"3…2…1…got it." Star took the picture.

"Is that you HAND, Minnie?" the Doctor ran away from her and the other elders and over to Star's side.

Minnie smirked at him, "Good boy."

"And now we really must go." Star determined, handing the camera back to the man.

~.~

Wilf sat at a table in a café, the Time Lords sitting opposite him. Wilf's friends had been nice enough to give them a lift in their bus.

"Oh, we had some good times, didn't we, though?" Wilf began, trying to break the silence that sat in, "I mean, all those Atmos things and planets in the sky and me with that paint gun," he imitated him firing a paint gun, "I keep seeing things, I…this face at night."

"Who are you?" the Doctor frowned at the man in front of them.

"Im Wilfred Mott."  
"No, people have waited hundreds of years to find me and then you manage it in a few hours."

"Well, im just lucky I suppose." Wilf shrugged.

"No, we keep on meeting, Wilf." He eyed the man, "Over an over again, like something's still connecting us."

"Yeah, but what's so important about me?"

"Exactly. Why you?"

"Doctor," Star gave him a look before turning back to Wilf, "Everyone's important."

Wilf smiled at her, as the Doctor grew more solemn and upset, thinking back to how he destroyed Donna and almost got her killed, "I'm going to die." He told the man.

"Well, so am I, one day." Wilf gave a small chuckle.

"Don't your dare."

"All right, I'll try not too."

"But I was told, 'He will knock 4 times.'" He inhaled deeply, "That was the prophecy. Knock 4 times and then…"

He and Star had very different ideas of what regeneration and death were, while he found regeneration as him dying, she found it as a new start, a new beginning, he could understand why she felt like that though, her past bodies weren't exactly the best.

"But I thought when I saw you before; you said your people could change, like, your whole body."

"We can still die," Star sighed, "If we get killed before we have a chance to regenerate, then we are dead. Or we can choose not to regenerate."

The Doctor leaned forwards and placed his elbows on the table, "Even then. Even when we change, it feels like dying. Everything I am dies. Some new man goes sauntering away. And im dead."

Star looked down, she knew why this death was affecting him more than others after what he hand apparently done with his hand, the next him would be…his last, no more after that that would be it, end of the Doctor.

"Hmm." Wilf murmured as he looked out the window.

"What?" the Doctor followed his gaze to see Donna outside, "oh…"  
"Im sorry. But I had to. Look, cant you make her better?"

"Stop it."

"No, but you're so clever. Can't you bring her memory back? Look, just go to her now, go on. Just ran across the street. Go up and say hello."

"We warned you, if she ever remembers her mind will burn and she will die." Star told the man, more harshly than she had hoped, but she needed him to understand.

A door closed and they looked out the window to see Donna confronting a meter attendant, "Don't touch this car."

They laughed at that, "She's not changed," the Doctor shook his head at her.

"Nah." Wilf agreed, "Oh, there he is…" a young man joined Donna carrying her shopping bags, "Shawn Temple. They're engaged. Getting married in the spring."

"Another wedding."

"Yeah."  
"Hold on, she's not gonna be called Noble-Temple? Sounds like a tourist spot."

"No, it's Temple-Noble."

"Right." He nodded.

"Is she happy?" Star asked, "Is he nice? Treated her right?" she had a soft spot for the woman, she was the only companion who didn't seem to agree on using genocide to defeat the Daleks, she knew that the other companions were only threatening the Daleks but still…

"Yeah, he's sweet enough," Wilf smiled at her concern, he knew that the girl had only met her once during the time the Earth got moved and it was sweet that she was concerned for her still, "He's a bit of a dreamer. Mind you, he's on minimum wage, she's earning tuppence, so all they can afford is a tiny little flat. And then sometimes I see this look on her face. Like she's so sad, but she can't remember why."

"She's got him." The Doctor said.

"She's making do."

"Aren't we all?" the Doctor laughed, heartlessly.

"Yeah, how about you? Who've you got now?"

"No one. Just us. I thought it would be better alone." He voice broke as he recalled what happened on Mars, "But I did some things that went wrong. I need…" he wiped his eyes and Star patted his shoulder, comforting him the best she could, both knowing their was no way to properly comfort him.

"Oh my word." Wilf breathed, shocked that a man he knew to be so strong was breaking down.

"Merry Christmas." He whispered.

"Yeah and you."

"Look at us."

"Well, don't you…don't you see? You know, you need her, Doctor, I mean, look wouldn't see make you laugh again? Good old Donna? Eh?"

The Doctor gave a small nod in agreement as they watched Donna drive away. They both knew that Donna would do him so much good, but…she couldn't.

~.~

The Doctor and Star stood on a pile of dirt at a derelict warehouse that night, they were trying to find the Master again and the TARDIS had picked up his sense somewhere near there. They closed their eyes and sniffed.

"This way!" Star eyes snapped open and they ran off. They spotted him gnawing a bone. He soon sensed them and look over at them as he stood, do they walked toward him but the Master rubbed hands together and fires at bolt of electrics just missing Star, he sent another one and just missed the Doctor, trying to scare them before he rubbed his hands together again and fire from both hands aiming for the Doctor only for Star to hold out her hand, creating a wall. The Master fired again, the time a lot harder when he bolt hit the wall, he continue hitting as Star grimaced in pain trying to keep the wall up. He finally stopped as he realised that Star was the one who put the wall up.

He smirked at her, "So I'm not the only abomination am I, Star?" he laughed as the Doctor glared at him and she looked down at the ground, horrified, "How did you survive?"

"Emergency temporal shift with Dalek Caan." she grimaced in the memory. "Stuck on the Dalek Crucible as he and Davros created an entire new race of Daleks right in front of my eyes."

"Aww, poor you." he mocked her, before he sighed, "I had estates." he crouched in front of the other Time Lords, "Do you remember my fathers land, back home? Pastures of red grass stretching far across the slopes of Mount Persition. We used to run across those fields all day, calling up at the sky. Look at us now."

"All that eloquence," the Doctor sighed, pitying his old friend, "But how many people have you killed?"

"I am so hungry."

"Your resurrection went wrong. That energy...your body's ripped open. Now you're killing yourself."

"And that human Christmas out there. They eat do much. All that roasting meat, cakes and red wine. Hot, fat, blood food. Pots, plates of meat and flesh and grease and juice. And baking, burnt, sticky hot skin. Hot! It's so hot!"

"Stop it!" Star cut in, feeling sick at the description.

"Slice! Slice!"

"Please stop!"

"It's mine! It's mine! It's mine! It's mine! Eat it! Eat it! Eat it! Eat it!"

"Enough!"

The Master looked at her and took a deep breath to regain control.

"What if we ask you for help?" The Doctor turned to the man, "There's more at work tonight than you and Star and me."

"Oh yeah?" the Master eyed him.

"We've been told something is returning."

"And here I am!"

"No," Star frowned "Its something more."

"But it hurts."

"I know." Star nodded her understanding.

"We were told the end of time." the Doctor continued.

"It hurts," he murmured, "Doctor, the noise...the noise in my head, Doctor, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, strong than ever before! Can't you hear it?"

"I'm sorry."

"Listen, listen, listen, listen! every minute, every second, every beat of my hearts, there it is...calling to me. Please, listen."

"We can't hear it."

"Listen." the Master placed his and the Doctor foreheads together.

The Doctor gasped and pulled away, "But that's...!"

"You heard it?" Star look at him.

"Yes." he nodded slowly, "But there's no noise, there never has been, it's just your insanity, it's the...what is it? What's inside your head?"

He laughed manically, "But it's real! It's real! It's REAL!" he threw his hands to the ground and launched into the air. The Doctor and Star ran after him as he landed on a large pile of dirt and rock. "All these years, you thought I was mad. King of the wasteland. But something is calling me, what is it? What is it?"

Just then a beam of light fell on the Master and they heard the whirring blades of a helicopter as more beams of light fell on the Master and them. Ropes where thrown down and two men rappelled down, tranquilizing the Master.

"Don't…" the Doctor ran forwards as Star shouted, "No!"

The soldiers fired at their feet, stopping them from doing anything as the unconscious Master was lifted into the helicopter.

"Let him go!" the Doctor yelled.

One of the soldiers hit the Time Lords with the butt of his gun, the helicopter flew away as the Doctor and Star lay on the ground unconscious.

~.~

The Doctor and Star stood outside the TARDIS waiting for Wilf as they park across the road from the house. Star had thrown a small pebble at one of the windows upstairs, she knew it would have been Wilf as they saw Donna and her mother downstairs. He hurried out of the house and over to them.

"We lost him," the Doctor got straight to the point, "We were unconscious. He's still on Earth. We can smell him, but he's too far away."

"Listen, you can't park there, what if Donna sees it?" Wilf nodded to the TARDIS.

"You're the only one Wilf. The only connection we can think off. You're involved. If I could work out how."

"Have you seen anything?" Star asked him, "Anything strange, or odd?"

"Well, there was…"

"Was what?"

"Well, there was…no, it's nothing."

"What was it? Something that seems like nothing can be very important."

"Well, Donna was a bit strange she had a funny little moment, this morning, all because of that book."

"What book?" the Doctor frowned.

Wilf made his way out to the back door of the house without Donna or his daughter spotting him, he handed the book to the Doctor, a smartly dress black man was on the cover, "Here you are, his name's Joshua Naismith."

"That's the man." The Doctor exclaimed, "We were shown him, by the Ood."

"By the what?"

"By the Ood."

"What's the Ood?"

"They're just Ood." Star waved him off, "They're aliens, look sort of like they have spaghetti coming out of their mouths."

"But its all part of the convergence, maybe…maybe touching Donna's subconscious." The Doctor smiled, "Oh, she's still fighting for us, even now. The Doctor-Donna"

"Oh, you really do choose good companions."

"That's not what you thought of them at first." He nudged Star.

"Let's not bring that up and that was only this body."

"Dad," Sylvia stepped outside, "What are you up to?" she spotted the Time Lords, "You! But…get out of here!"

"Merry Christmas." They both greeted her.

"Merry Christmas. But she can't see you! What if she remembers?"

"Mum," Donna called from inside, "Where are those tweezers?"

"Go!"

"We're going." Star held her hands up in defence as they headed for the street.

"Yeah, me, too." Wilf followed them.

"Oh, no you don't!" Sylvia followed him.

"Bye, see you later."

Star whipped around to the woman, "Maybe, you should go to your daughter, before she comes outside wondering where you are. Then it would be your fault if she saw us and you wouldn't want that, would you?" Sylvia glared at her for a moment before she turned and headed inside. "Yeah, I don't think she likes me."

"Oh, don't worry about her." Wilf told her as they headed to the TARDIS.

"You can't come with us." The Doctor looked at the man as he unlocked the TARDIS.

"You're not leaving me with her." He gestured back to the house, speaking of his daughter.

The Doctor looked at Star who smirked at him, before he shrugged himself, "fair enough."

Star and the Doctor ran to the console as Wilf stood to the side, taking it all in.

"Naismith!" the Doctor cheered, handed the book back to Wilf, "If we can track him down." He finally noticed as Wilf looked bemused, "Ah. Right. Yes. Bigger on the inside. D'you like it?"

"I thought it'd be cleaner." He remarked.

"Cleaner?" the Doctor pointed at him, warningly, "I could take you back home, right now."

Star on the other hand merely shook her head, slightly glad that he didn't say 'it's bigger on the inside', "You try keeping a ship that's infinite clean."

"It's infinite?" Wilf's eyes widened at that.

"Yeah!"

Wilf shook his head as he took all the information in, "If this is a time machine, that man you're chasing, why can't you just pop back to yesterday and catch him?"

"We can't go back in ow own timeline," the Doctor explained, "We have to stay relative to the Master within the casual nexus. Understand?"

"Not a word."

"Welcome aboard." He shook the mans hand.

"Thank you."

"I think im the only person who actually does understand him." Star commented.

~.~

They materialised in a stable of some kind, sensing the Master as soon as they stepped out.

"We've moved," Wilf gasped as he stepped out after them, "We've really moved!"

"You should stay here." Star told the man.

"Not bloody likely!"

"Don't swear." The Doctor turned to him as well, "Hold on," he used the remote and the TARDIS dematerialised, "Just a second out of sync. Don't want the Master finding the TARDIS, that's the last thing we need."

They ran down the side of one of the buildings, they reached an archway, "Wait!" Star pulled the Doctor back when she spotted two armed guards.

"That book said he's a millionaire," Wilf recalled, "He's got he's own private army."

"Down here." The Doctor called. He soniced a small door and the three of them snuck inside just as a patrol come by.

They walked down the hall when the heard a woman speaking from round the corner, "The man's a miracle. All the systems are slotting back into place. The shatterthreads have harmonized and the multiple overshot have triplicated.

"Nice gate!" the Doctor called as they peered round the corner, making the woman jump.

"Hello." Wilf gave the woman a small wave.

"Don't call security," Star warned as she strode into the room, "Or we will have to tell them you're wearing a Shimmer."

"And I reckon anyone wearing a Shimmer doesn't want the Shimmer to be noticed or they wouldn't need a Shimmer in the first place." The Doctor agreed.

"Im sorry, what's a Shimmer?" the woman asked, far too innocently to be believable.

"Shimmer," he pointed the sonic at her revealing her to be a green alien, with spikes on her head.

"Miss Addams?" a man called over a comm.

"Oh, my lord." Wilf gasped at her, "She's a cactus!"

"He's got in working." Star remarked as she looked back at the screens after giving the woman a look silently tell him not to reply to the man.

"But what is it?" the Doctor shook his head.

"What's working?" the man from the comm. entered, "What are you doing here?"

The Doctor pointed the sonic at him, not even looking up "Shimmer!" he was a cactus-like alien as well, "Now tell us, quickly, what's going on, the Master, Harold Saxon? Skeletor, whatever you're calling him, what's he doing up there?"

"But I checked the reading," the man shook his head, "he's don't good work. Its operational."

"Who are you? I met someone like you. He was brilliant, but he was little and red."

"When was this?" Star demanded.

"Tell you later."

"No, that's a Zocci." Addams rolled her eyes.

"We're not Zocci," the man agreed, "We're Vinocci. Completely different."

"And the Gate is Vinocci," Addams added, "We're a salvage team. We picked up the signal the humans reactivated it, and as soon as it's working, we can't transport it to the ship."

"What's your name?" Star looked at the male Vinocci.

"Rossiter."

"Well, Rossiter, what does it do?"

"Well, it mends; it's as simple as that." He shrugged as through it wasn't a big deal, "It's a medical device to repair the body. It makes people better."

"No, there's got to be more." The Doctor muttered, "Every single warning says the Master's going to do something colossal."

"So that things like a sickbed, yes?" Wilf asked.

"More or less." Addams sighed.

"Well, pardon me for asking, but why is it so big?"

"Oh, good question." The Doctor looked at the Vinocci. "Why's it so big?"

"Its doesn't just mend one person at a time." Addams scoffed.

"That would be ridiculous." The man nodded.

"It mends whole planets."

"It does what?!" the Doctor and Star cried.

"It transmits the medical template across the entire population."

And that was all they needed for the Time Lords to run from the room, both of them working out the Masters plan. They ran up all the stairs form the basement to the main floor.

"Turn the Gate off," Star ordered as they ran into the lab, "Right now!"  
"At arms!" one of the guards ordered, as all of the other men in black turned their guns on them.

"No, no, no, no." the Doctor moved in front of Star, holding his hands up, "Whatever you do, just don't let him near that device."

"Oh, like that was ever gonna happen," The Master rolled his eyes before he removed his straight jacket with a burst of energy and leapt into the Gate with a scream, "Homeless, was I? Destitute and dying? Well, look at me, now."

"Deactivate it. All of you turn the whole thing off!"

No one moved, as the humans shook their heads with the Master laughing manically.

"He's…inside my head." Naismith mumbled.

"Get out of there!" Star shouted.

The Master fired a bolt of energy at the Time Lords, sending them to the floor.

"Doctor!" Wilf cried as he ran into the room, "Star, there's this face…"

Star ran over to the man, "What is it? What do you see?"

"Well, its him, I can see him! I can see his face."

"There's something wrong..." a newsreporter reported on the TV, "It seems to be affecting the President."

"I can't turn it off." The Doctor called.

"That's because I locked it, idiot." The Master sneered.

Star dragged Wilf into one of the glass booths, "Get inside." She got him in one booth and she got in the other, fiddling with the controls.

"Oh!" Wilf breathed in relief, "I can see again. He's gone."

"Good." Star nodded, "Now press that button, so I can get out."

He pressed the button and Star ran back to help the Doctor again.

"50 seconds and counting." The Master grinned.

"To what?" the Doctor demanded

"Oooh, you're gonna love this."

"What is it? Hypnotism? Mind control? You're grafting your thoughts inside them, is that it?"

"Oh, that's way too easy. No, no, no, they're not gonna think like me. They're gonna BECOME me. And zero!"

The Master laughed as a wave of energy burst out of the Gate through the entire room and if the Vinocci's were right across the entire planet, causing the humans of shake their heads rapidly and become… the Master!

"He can't have!" the Doctor gasped in horror.

"He has!" Star breathed in equal horror.

"Doctor!" the looked over as Wilf shouted at them, on the phone, "She's starting to remember. What is it? What have you done, you monster?" He glared at the Master.

"Oh, im sorry," the Master smirked, "Are you talking to me? Or to me?"

"Or to me?" the Naismith- Master laughed

"Or to me?" the guards- Masters called as everyone in the room, no, everyone on the planet became the Master.

"Im President." The President- Master came on the TV, "President of the United States. Look at me!" the audience- Masters cheered, "Ooh, financial solution…deleted. Ha-ha!"

"The human race was always your favourite." The Master, the real Master, remarked, "But now, there is no human race. There is only…the Master race."

All of the Masters laughed.

The Doctor could only stare in horror as he glanced at Star who glanced back at him. This…they were not expecting.


	7. The end of time part 2

They had been out numbered by all of the Masters in the room. The Doctor had been strapped to a chair, his mouth gagged, securely strapped in. Wilf had been had been tied up with ropes in a simple chair, Star sat next to him, her hands tied behind her back, a blindfold over her eyes.

"Now, then," the Master grinned, "I've got a planet to run," he turned and walked into the middle of the room, he turned back to Star, and lifted up her blindfold, "Unless, you want to help me?"

Star raise her eyebrows at him, not only was he actually asking her to help him rule not only an entire planet he had turned into himself but the human race! Her favourite species. And after everything he'd done in the past! He had tied them all up in the room and here he was just asking her to join him, "you're an idiot." She sneered.

he snapped the blindfold over her eyes again, "Is everybody ready?" he called, covering up his disappointment in her.

While Star couldn't currently see anything she could he the various different Masters replying to him, confirming that they were in charge and had all of Earth defences at their control.

"Enough soldiers and weapons to turn this planet into a warship. Nothing to say...Doctor?" the Master walked back over to him, "What's that? Pardon? Sorry?"

"You let him go," Wilf shouted at him, "You swine."

"Oh your dad's still kicking up a fuss."

"Yeah? Well, I'd be proud if I was."

He put a finger to his lips, "Hush, now. Listen to your Master." Just then Wilf's mobile rang, "But that's a mobile."

"No, really." Star muttered, sarcastically.

"Yeah," Wilf nodded, "It's mine, let me turn it off."

"No, no, no," the Master walked over to him, "I don't think you understand. Everybody on this planet...is me. And I'm not phoning you, so who the hell is that?" he knelt in front of him and searched the mans pocket.

"It's nobody." Wilf tried to wave him off, "Probably some ring-back call."

"Ooh, and look at this," the Master pulled out a gun from the mans pocket, "Good man!" he dropped it to the floor; the Doctor eyed it, as Star sighed, "'Donna', who's Donna?"

"She's no one, just leave it." but they could hear the fear in his voice, the only person it could be was Donna, the Metacrisis would protect her.

"Gramps..." the heard Donna as the Master answered the phone, "Don't hang up. You've got to help me. I ran out. Everyone was changing."

"Who is she?" the Master demanded, "Why didn't she change?"

"Gramps, I can't hear you."

"Well, it was this thing the Doctor did..." Wilf began, "He did it to her. The Metacrisis.

"Oh, he loves playing with Earth girls. Ugh!"

"Are you there?"

"Find her," the Master walked over to a screen with the Naismith-Master on, "Trace the call."

"Are you still there?" Donna continued over the phone, obviously scared, "can you hear me?"

"Say goodbye to the freak, granddad." the Master put the phone to Wilf's ear.

"Donna, get out of there." he called down the phone, doing the best he could to protect his granddaughter. "Look. Just get out of there! Run!"

"What do I do?" Donna cried.

"Run, sweetheart, that's all. Run for your life!"

"There's more of them!"

"Donna? What's happening? Are you still there?"

"They're everywhere..."

"Donna? Look, I'm telling you. Run, Donna! Just run!"

"It's not just them..." she breathed, "I can see those things again. Those creatures. Why can I see a giant wasp?"

"Donna, don't think about that, Donna, my love, don't!"

"And it hurts. My head, it keeps getting hotter, and hotter and hotter, and hotter, and hotter!" she screamed, "What did I..."

The line went dead.

"Donna?" Wilf shouted, "What was that? Donna...Donna, are you there? Donna...Donna! Donna..."

He proceeded to ungag the Doctor.

"That's better." the Doctor smiled, "Hello, but really, did you think I'd leave my best friend without a defence mechanism?"

"Doctor," Wilf cut in, "What happened?"

"She's alright," he called over to him, "She's fine, I promise. She'll just sleep."

"Where is the TARDIS?" the Master demanded, turning to Star.

She despite being blindfolded, rolled her eyes at him, "really? You think I'll tell you? Grow up."

"Tell me, where's your TARDIS?" he whipped to face the Doctor.

"You could be wonderful." the Doctor remarked.

"Where is it?"

"You're a genius. You're stone-cold brilliant. You are, swear, you really are. But you could be so much more. You could be beautiful. With a mind like that, we could travel the stars. It would be my honour, 'cause you don't need to own the universe just to see it. To have the privilege of seeing the while of time and space. That's ownership enough."

"Would it stop, then? The noise in my head?"

"I can help."

"I don't know what I'd be without that noise."

"I don't know what I'd be without my insanity either." Star muttered, while she may be afraid of the power she processes that isn't stopping her from accepting herself. It was just this body that feel that, "or my anger." She always had a temper.

"Wonder way I'd be without you." the Doctor countered. The Master had been his childhood best friend, they had grown up together, before yet became arch enemy's he had actually made him Star unofficial godfather, but then he corroded and they became enemy's from then on. And God knows where he would be now if it wasn't for Star especially after what happened on Mars, he needed her just as much as she needed him and he wasn't helping her very much.

"Yeah." the Master sniffed.

"What does he mean?" Wilf asked, "What noise?"

"It began in Gallifrey." the Master began, "As children. Not that you'd call it childhood," he moved and sat down in the desk, "More a life of duty. 8 years old. I was taken for initiation. To stare into the Untempered Schism."

"What does that mean?"

"It's a gap in the fabric of reality," the Doctor explained, "You can see into the Time Vortex itself. And it hurts."

"It felt amazing for me." Star smiled staring into nothingness, thinking back to when she looked into the Schism herself, it didn't hurt he, she just felt a tingling sensation.

"They took me there," the Master continued, "In the dark. I looked into time, old man, and I heard it calling to me. Drums, the never-ending drums. Listen to it," he looked over at the Doctor, "Listen."

"Then lets find it, you, me and Star." the Doctor replied, he gaze shifting to Star hoping that she had a plan to get out, he saw her give a small nod.

"Except…" the Master jumped of the desk, "Oh! Oh, wait a minute. Oh, yes. Oh, that's good."

"What?" Star frowned at him.

"What is it?" the Doctor looked even more confused.

"The noise exists within my head. And now within 6 billion heads. Everyone on Earth can hear it. Imagine! Oh…oh, yes!" He laughed and his skull flashed before them before he dropped to his knees.

"Oh." Star eyes widened as she realised what he too realised.

"The Gate wasn't enough," the Doctor looked at him sadly, "You're still dying."

"This body was born out of death." He snapped, "All it can do is die. What did you say to me, back at the wasteland? You said, 'the end of time.'"

"We said something is returning," Star nodded, "We were shown a prophecy…"

"That's why I need your help." The Doctor finished.

"What if I part of it?" The Master suggested, "Don't you see? The drumbeat is calling from so far away, from the end of time itself. And now it's been amplified 6 billion times. Triangulate all those signals. I could find its source! Oh, Doctor…that's what your prophecy was. Me!" he slapped the Doctor on his cheek, "Where's the TARDIS?"

The Doctor didn't seem put off by the slap, "No. Just stop. Just think."

"Kill him." He pointed to Wilf. The helmeted soldier aimed his gun at him. "I need that technology, Doctor. Tell me where it is, or the old man is dead."

"Don't tell him." Wilf called.

"I'll kill him, right now!"

"Actually," the Doctor tried to hide a smirk, "The most impressive thing about you is that after all this time, you're still bone-head stupid."

"Take aim." The Master rolled his eyes.

"You've got 6 billion pairs of eyes, but you still can't see the obvious, can you?"

"Like what?"

"You can't lock me up." Star turned and punched him in the face. "And that is for slapping my dad and for threatening to kill Wilf." She glared at his unconscious body. "And THAT'S," She kicked his prone form, "for being a dick for all those years!"

Wilf blinked at her, "how did you get out?"

"Oh please?" she scoffed, "like I said, you cant lock me up," she spun her dagger around on her finger, "and I'm very good with a dagger," she winked before calling to the guard, "You can take them helmet of now, Rossiter."

"How did you know it was me?" he asked as he removed his helmet.

"You're one inch too tall." The Doctor called to him. "Now get me out!"

"Well, come on!" Addams ran into the room, "We need to get out of here, fast."

"God bless the cactuses!" Wilf cheered as Addams untied him.

"That CACTI." The Doctor corrected.

"That's racist!" Rossiter glared at him and he began to untie him.

"Come on!" Addams ushered them, "We've got to get out."

"There's too many buckles and straps."

"Just…wheel him."

"No, no, no!" the Doctor argued as Rossiter began to wheel him out, "no, no, don't! Don't! No, no, no…! Star tell them!"

"Which way?" Rossiter looked around.

"This way." Addams led them off.

"No, no, no, the other way!" the Doctor shouted, "I've got the TARDIS."

"Doctor, you put the TARDIS out of sync," Star reminded him, "We can't get in, without your key and that'll waste even more time."

"I know what im doing," Addams agreed.

"Not the stairs…"the Doctor winced as Rossiter pushed im down to the cellar, "not the stairs!" he grunted at each bump. "Worst…rescue…ever!"

"At least it's a rescue!" Star argued.

They ran back into the basement when the guards appeared blocking their way through, the Master smiled at them, "Gotcha."

"You think so?" Addams smirked before she pressed her watch and the five of them disappeared…

~.~

…and reappeared on the ship.

"Now get me out of this thing!" the Doctor ordered.

"Oh, calm down!" Star almost snapped at him,

"He's not going to let us go. Just hurry up and get me out!"

"Oh, my goodness me..." Wilf gasped looking out the window of the ship, down at the Earth, "were in space."

"Come on!"

"I'm trying!" Star actually snapped at him, "That man really knows how to secure straps down." finally she saw the dagger through and untied him.

He jumped out of the chair, grabbing his sonic and flashing it at the control panel, causing it to explode.

"Where's the flight desk?" the Doctor turned to Addams.

"But we're safe!" Addams exclaimed, "We're a 100,000 miles above the Earth."

"And he's got every single missile I the planet ready to fire."

Addams blinked, she hadn't thought of that, "Good point." she ran off, Rossiter and the Doctor following.

"Wilf," Star walked over to him as he continued staring out the window.

"But we're in space!" he pointed out the window.

"Yes we are," she gently tugged him away, running down the corridor to the flight desk, following the Doctors voice.

~.~

"We've got to shut it down!" the Doctor was shouting as they entered.

"No change, mate," Rossiter shook his head, "we're going home."

"We're a salvage team." Addams told him, "Local politics has nothing to do with us. Not unless there's a carnival. Sooner we get back to Vinocci space the better."

"You're not leaving." the Doctor flashed the sonic at the controls. The ship went dead, dead, the lights went out and the engine powered down.

The Doctor put the sonic away and shushed them all.

Everyone looked around in silence, only the ship creaking could be heard as they hoped they wouldn't be spotted.

"No sigh of missiles," Addams remarked bitterly after a few moments of silence, "no sigh of...anything. You've wrecked the place!"

"The engines are burnt out," Rossiter reported, "just auxiliary lights. Everything else is kaput. We can't move. We're stuck, in orbit."

"Thanks to you. Idiot!" Addams stormed off.

Rossiter ran after her.

"I know you, though," Wilf said, "I bet you've got a plan, haven't you? Eh? Come on! You've always got a trick up your sleeve. Nice little bit of the old Doctor Flimflam, ha-ha-ha, sort of thing? Eh?"

The Time Lords just looked solemnly at him.

"Oh, Blimey."

The Doctor was working on some wiring as Star stood looking out the window, looking down at the Earth sadly.

"Doctor..." she called as she spotted a white streak of light flash past.

He walked over to the window, both knowing that it wasn't a normal meteor.

Wilf walked into the flight deck as the Doctor and Star worked on some more wiring.

"Aye, aye." he offered a small smile as he walked over to them, "Got this old tub mended?"

"Just trying to fix the heating." the Doctor mumbled.

Wilf say and sat down next to him, Star on the Doctor other side. "D'you know, I've always dreamt of a view like that," he let out a small chuckle, "I'm an astronaut. It's dawn over England, look. Brand new day. My wife's buried down there. I might never visit her grave again now. D'you think he changed them, in their grave?"

"I'm sorry." the Doctor said softly, the gate had changed everything with human DNA.

"No, not your fault."

"Isn't it?"

"If you're gonna blame yourself, you can blame me as well." Star remarked, he opened his mouth to argue, "But it's not your fault, it's the Masters."

"Ooh, 1948," Wilf looked back out the window trying to change the subject, "I was over there. End of the Mandate in Palestine. Private Mott. Skinny little idiot, I was, stood on this rooftop, the middle of a skirmish. It was like a blizzard, all them bullets in the air. The world gone mad. Yeah, you don't want to listen to an old man Tells, do you?"

"We're both older than you." the Doctor told him.

"Get away."

"I'm 906."

"I'm 416." Star added.

"What?" Wilf blinked at the pair of them, "Really, though?"

"Yeah." the Doctor nodded.

"900 and 400...we must look like insects to you."

"We think you look like giants."

"Listen," Wilf began reaching into his pocket, "I...I want you to have this." he pulled out his gun, "I've kept it all this time, and I thought..."

"No," the Doctor cut in.

"No, but if you take it, you could..."

"No. You had that gun in the mansion. You could have shot the Master there and then."

"Too scared, I suppose."

"There's no shame in being afraid," Star shook her head, "To take someone life is a horrible thing to do." And then to take someone's life and feel no guilt after that was even worst.

"I'd be proud," the Doctor looked at him, seriously.

"Of what?"

"If you were my dad."

"That'd make you my granddad." Star smiled.

"Oh, come on, don't start." Wilf scoffed, "But you said...you were told...he will knock four times, and then you for. Well, that's him, isn't it? The Master? That noise in his head? The master is going to kill you."

"Yeah," the Doctor whispered, tears in his voice.

Wilf held his gun out to him, "Then kill him first."

"And that's how the Master started. It's not like I'm innocent. I've taken lives."

"We both have," Star corrected, squeezing the Doctors hand in comfort.

"...But I got worse, I got clever. Manipulated people into taking their own. Sometimes I think Time Lord lives too long. I just can't."

"If the Master dies, what happens to all the people?"

"The template snaps," Star said before the Doctor could lie to him, "They got back to being human."

"They're alive and human? Then don't you dare, sir. Don't you DARE put him before them. Now you take this, that's an order, Doctor. Take the gun. You take the gun and save you life. And please don't die. You're the most wonderful man and I don't want you to die!" he started sobbing a he tried to place the gun in the Doctors hand.

"Me either." Star breathed.

She had hoped that try would spend centuries together before she would have to seem in regenerate, heck! She had hoped she would never have to see that! It was horrible to see random strangers regenerate but your own family, and then they turn into someone completely different and you have no idea what they would be like...it took some getting used too.

"Never," the Doctor pushed the gun away.

"A star...feel from the sky," the Master voice called out, "Don't you want to know where from? Because it makes sense, Doctor. The whole of my life. My destiny. The star was a diamond. And the diamond...is a white point star," the Doctor gasped as Stars hand flew automatically to her neck, thinking back to the necklace she had worn since she was 100 but, it wasn't there anymore. "And I have worked all night to sanctify that gift. Now the star is mine. I can increase the signal and use it as a lifeline. Do you get it now? Do you see? Keep watching, Doctor, Star. This should be...spectacular. Over and out."

"What's he on about?" Wilf asked, "What's he doing? Doctor, what does that mean?"

"A whitepoint star is only found on one planet, Gallifrey." the Doctor turned to Star in utter horror.

"It's the Time lords," she breathed.

"The Time lords are returning." they finished in unison.

They were the last Time Lords, they should be overjoyed their people were returning but instead Star looked like she would vomit. She knew the reason why he had done it, he had told her on her first night, she'd ran off to find her room ad moments late he appeared and sat down and told her everything, she herself had helped in a way, during the war, he found her, tried to get her to come with him, instead she gave him a device that would turn of the alarms from a while, allowing him access to the Moment.

"Well, that's good isn't it?" Wilf frowned at them, "That's your people."

But the Doctor just took the gun and put it in his pocket before he and Star ran to the flight deck, Star ran straight to the comms and turned it on, a four beat rhythm echoed around them. The colour drained from her face and she looked at the Doctor, both afraid of what was to come.

"What's that?" Addams asked

"Coming from Earth," Rossiter reported as he looked at the computer, "It's on everything single wavelength."

"But you said you people were dead," Wilf accused, "Past tense."

"Yes," Star replied, "Inside a Time Lock."

"Like sealed inside a bubble." The Doctor added, "It's not a bubble but think of a bubble. Nothing can get in or get out of the Time Lock. Don't you see? Nothing can get in or get out, except something that was already there."

"The signal," Wilf gasped, "Since he was a kid."

"If they can follow the signal, they can escape, before they die."

"Well, big reunion. We'll have a party."

"There will be no party." Star deadpanned.

"But I've heard you talk about your people like they're wonderful." Wilf frowned at their expressions.

"That's how we choose to remember them," the Doctor shook his head, "The Time Lords of old. But then they went to war, an endless war, and it changed them, right to the core. You've seen my enemies, Wilf. The Time Lords are more dangerous than any of them."

"Time Lords?" Addams cut in, confused, "What lords? Anyone what to explain?"

"Right, you!" the Doctor pointed at the alien, "This is a salvage ship, yes? You go trawling the asteroid fields for junk?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"So, you've got asteroid lasers!"

"Yeah, but they're all frazzled." Rossiter told him.

"Consider them unfrazzled," Star flipped a lever and two doors on opposite sides of the room opened. "You there," he pointed at Addams, "Im going to need you on navigation. And you," he pointed at Rossiter, "Get in the laser-pod. Wilfred?"

"Yeah?" Wilf called.

"Laser number 2. The old soldiers got one more battle."

"Right."

"This ship can't move." Addams argued, "Its dead!"

"Fix the heating," The Doctor pushed two large levers on either side of the control panel and the engines burst back into life.

"But now they can see us."  
"Yes they can." Star nodded.

"This is my ship and you're not moving it. Step away from the wheel."

"There's an old Earth saying, captain." The Doctor told her, "A phrase of great power, and wisdom, and consolation to the soul in times of need."

"What's that, then?"

"Allons-y!" and he grabbed the wheel, as Star stood next to him. "Come on…" he grunted as they entered the atmosphere, "come on…"

"You are blinkin', flippin' mad." Addams shouted at the pair of them as she, Rossiter and Wilf were knocked around.

"You two," the Doctor called, "What did I say? Lasers."

"What for?" Rossiter frowned.

"For the missiles!" Star yelled at him, "We've got fight of the whole planet!"

Rossiter and Wilf hurried off.

"We've got incoming," Addams reported.

"Open fire!" Star ordered Wilf and Rossiter.

The Doctor turned the ship, narrowly avoiding the missiles.

"Open fire!" she repeated.

"And there's more of them, "Addams continued, "16 of them. Oh! And another 16."

"Go to the rear-gun laser!" the Doctor ordered her. She headed to the door, "you two open fire! NOW!" the Doctor quickly rotated the ship again, causing Star to stumble slightly as Rossiter and Wilf took out a large number of missiles. "No, you don't!" he spun the ship around; they managed to destroy all the missiles. The front window was blown away from the attack. "Lock the navigation!"

"Onto what?" Addams asked.

"England! The Naismith mansion!"

"How far away are we?" Star turned to Addams.

"50 licks and closing." She answered. "We've locked onto the house. We are going to stop, though?" neither Time Lord said anything, "Doctor? We are going to stop?!"

Wilf entered the flight deck with Rossiter, "Doctor! Doctor, you said you were going to die."

"He said what?" Addams cried.

"But is that all of us? I won't stop you, sir, but is this it?"

The Doctor stayed silent as he pulled the ship up at the last moment before it hit the mansion. He lifted a hatched from the floor and with gun in his hand he jumped down.

"Oh no, you are not going alone…" Star determined, jumping after him.

The Doctor crashed through the glass dome and fell to the floor in the centre of the room on in stomach with a grunt. Star landed next to him, on her back, with hiss in pain.

The Doctor shakily tried to lift the gun up, but his arm dropped to the floor, he tried to stand but failed also.

"My Lord Doctor, My Lord Master, My Lady Star." Rassilon sneered as he walked forwards, "We are gathered for the end."

Grunting, the Doctor slowly rose onto his kneels, as Star tried to sit up but could only manage to roll onto her stomach, he back hurt terribly.

"Listen to me." The Doctor began, "You can't…"

"It is a fitting paradox that our salvation comes at the hands of our most infamous child."

"He isn't saving you," Star said through gritted teeth, "Can't you see what he is doing?"

"Hey, no, hey!" the Master pointed warningly at her, "Hush." He turned to the president, "Look around you. I've transplanted myself into every single human being. But who wants a mongrel little species like them, because now I can transplanted myself into every single Time Lord. Oh, yes, Mr President, sir, standing there all noble and resplendent and decrepit. Think how much better you're going to look at me!"

Rassilon gave him an unamused look and held out his gauntlet-covered hand, it glowed and the humans turned back into themselves.

"No, don't…!" the Master pouted, "No, no, no, stop it! No, no! No, no! Don't!"

"On, your knees, mankind." Rassilon ordered. And the humans knelt before him, scared.

"No, that's fine, that's good, because you said salvation. I still saved you, don't forget that."

"The approach begins."

There was a low rumbling and the room brightened.

"Approach of what?" the Master frowned.

"Something is returning," the Doctor murmured, "Don't you ever listen? That was the prophecy. Not someone, something."

"What is it?"

"Gallifrey." Star stated as a familiar red planet began to fade into existence in the sky above. "Right here, right now."

The Master dropped down on one knees as the humans scream and ran from the room, "But I…I didn't this. I get the credits! Im on your side."

Wilf ran into the room and fought against the crowd, "Come on, get out of the way! Get out of the way! Doctor…"

There was an urgent knocking from the booths and a technician was still inside, "Somebody, please!"

"Wilf, don't…" the Doctor tried to stop him but was too weak, "Don't!"

"Wilf!" Star cried, "Don't!"

Wilf pressed the button to release the man, "I've got you. Come on. Go on." The technician ran from the room.

The Master stood up again, "But this is fantastic, isn't it?" the Doctor and Star both glared at him, "The Time Lords restored."

"You weren't there on the final days of the war," Star spat, "You coward."

"You never saw what was born." The Doctor added, "But if the time-lock's broken, then everything's coming through, not just the Daleks, but the Skaro Degradations, the Horde of Travesties, the Nightmare Child, the Could-Have-Been King with his army of Meanwhiles and Never-weres, the War turning to hell. And that's what you opened, right above the Earth. Hell is descending!"

"My kind of world." He grinned.

"Just listen!" She snapped at him, "Cause even the Time Lords can't survive that!"

"We will initiate the Final Sanction." Rassilon remarked, "The end of time will come at my hand. The rupture will continue, until it rips the Time Vortex apart."

"That's suicide." The Master gaped at him.

"We will ascend to become creatures of consciousness alone, free from these bodies, free of time, and cause and effect, while creation itself ceases to e."

"You see now?" the Doctor turned to the Master "That's what they were planning in the final days of the war. I had to stop them."

"Then take me with you, Lord President." The Master continued, "Let me ascend into glory," he knelt before him with his arms outstretched.

"You are diseased," Rassilon snarled, "Albeit a disease of our own making. No more."

The Master lowered his arms, as he realised he couldn't talk his way out. Rassilon raised his gauntlet-cover hand when there was a click. The Doctor aimed the gun at him as he stood in front of the Master.

"Choose you enemy well. We are many. The Master is but one."

"But he's the President." The Master argued, "Kill him and Gallifrey could be yours."

Star gave a small scoff that that, the Doctor had never wanted to be President, he had run from the past twice now, why would today be any different? He turned and aimed his gun and the Master.

"He's not blame, not me!" the Master cried, "Oh, the link is inside my head. Kill me, the link gets broken, the go back. You never would, you coward. Go on then. Do it."

The Doctor turned back to Rassilon.

"Exactly. It's not just me, it's him. He's the link, kill him!"

"The final act of your life is murder." Rassilon stated, "But which one of us?"

"Doctor." Star whispered to him. He looked over at her, to see her looking at something or more someone just past the Rassilon. She lowered her hands to reveal tears falling down her cheeks. His mother, his mother was crying, and that broke his hearts, he was about to kill someone in front of his mother and in front of his daughter. Not only was he a terrible son but also a terrible father. Her gaze flickered behind him and then realised what he had to do.

He turned to face the Master again, and the Master sighed sadly at him before, "Get out of the way," the Master smiled as he dove out the way and the Doctor shot the device holding the diamond, destroying the link. "The link is broken. Back into the Time War, Rassilon. Back into hell."

"You'll die with me, Doctor!" Rassilon glared at him.

"I know." He stood there, excepting his fate, as Rassilon held his hand out before Star jumped in the way, a glowing blue wall protecting them.

"Abomination." Rassilon sneered at her as she stood there, here eyes shining crimson.

And then something inside the Master snapped at the words he had been called all his life. "Get out the way," he ordered and fired a bolt of energy at Rassilon as the Doctor pulled Star and himself out the way just in time as the bolt his Rassilon in the chest. "You did this to me! All my life! You made me! One! Two! Three! FOUR!"

The Master was pulled into the white light and disappeared with the Time Lords and Gallifrey.

~.~

"Doctor?" Star called as he slowly started to stir, "Wake up…"

The Doctor rolled onto his side with a groan.

"I'm alive." He breathed. "Im…" he gave a shaky laughed as he smiled at Star who smiled back, "Im alive!"

Then there was a four beat knock.

They both froze, both knowing what that meant.

There was another four knocks…

And another…

They looked over to see Wilf knocking once more.

"They've gone, then?" Wilf gave a small wave as he stood in the booth, stuck in there. Star sighed, if she had been awake, maybe she could have stopped Wilf. "Good-oh. If you could let me out…?"

"Yeah." Was all the Doctor could bring himself to say, he had been so close but now…

"Only, this thing seems to be making a bit of a noise."

"The Master," he pushed himself up with Star help, "left the nuclear bolt running. It's gone into overload."

"And that's bad, is it?"

"No…cause all the excess radiation gets vented inside there. Vinocci glass contains it. All 500,000 rads, about to flood that thing."

"Oh!" Wilf gave a small nervous laugh, "well, you'd better let me out, then."

"Except its gone critical. Touch one control and it floods."

"Even the sonic would set it off." Star sighed sadly.

This is how it would end. The Doctor was meant to take Wilf's place in the booth. He was meant to die for Wilf, this is why Wilf was able to find them so easily, he was meant to find them, meant to be here, for this to happen.

"Im sorry." Wilf muttered, feeling completely guilty.

"Sure." The Doctor whispered.

"Look, just leave me."

"Ok," his voice broke, "Right, then…I will. Cause you had to go in there, didn't you? You had to go and get stuck, oh, yes! Cause that's who you are, Wilfred. You were always this. Waiting for me all this time."

"No, really, just leave me. Im an old man, Doctor. I've had my time."

"Well, exactly. Look at you. Not remotely important. But me? I could do so much more. So much more! But this is what I get. My reward. And it's not fair!" he shoved items off a desk, breathing heavily, "Ohh...lived too long."

"No…no, no, please don't." Wilf pleaded as he walked over to the booth, "No, don't. Don't…please don't! Please!"

"Doctor!" Star shouted, "Let me! Just…I will."

"No," he shook his head sadly at her, "I won't let you do that."

"But I have more regenerations left than you!"

"And I wont let you die for you daft old Doctor." He walked to the booth, "Wilfred…it's my honour. Better be quick. Three, two, one." He pressed the button in the booth, releasing Wilf as his booth was flooded with radiation. He groaned and slid to the floor, curling up in pain.

"Doctor!" Star cried, turning away, she couldn't bare to watch, to watch as her father died in front of her eyes.

"What…?" Wilf blinked as the Doctor sat up, the machine turning itself off, "Hello."

"Hi." The Doctor said, his voice pained.

"Still with us?"

"The systems dead." Star said quietly, as she glanced at the Doctor sadly, "You absorbed it all."

The Doctor placed his hand on the door and it opened easily, "Oh, now it opens."

"There we are then," Wilf smiled, not noticing how solemn the Time Lord were, "Safe and sound. Mind you, you're in hell of a state. You've got some battle scars there."

The Doctor wiped his hands over his face; they healed as he pulled his hands away.

"But they've…" Wilf gaped, "You're face! How did you do that?"

"Its started," he looked down at his hands at the cuts started to heal there too, before he looked up at Star and cleared her scars up. She gave a small thank you, so quiet that if he didn't see her lips move he would have just imagined it.

~.~

Sylvia smiled as she stood in the doorway, watching as Wilf stepped out of the TARDIS, the Doctor and Star after him.

"Oh, she's smiling," the Doctor remarked, "As if today wasn't bad enough. Anyway…don't go thinking this is goodbye, Wilf. We'll see you again, one more time."

"What do you mean?" Wilf frowned, "When's that?"

"Just keep looking. We'll be there."  
"Where are you going?"

"To get his reward." Star said, looking at the Doctor sadly. And he really did deserve it.

The Doctor smiled at her and the entered the TARDIS again and dematerialised.

~.~

They'd gone to see Martha and Mickey, turned out that they started dating and had eventually married. They seemed like a cute couple, Martha was definitely a lot better for Mickey, they deserved each other. They'd gone to see them and stopped a Sontaran firing at them as they Martha had looked up first and noticed them and Star was pretty sure they both knew what was coming for the Doctor as they hugged each other as the Time Lords walked away, Star holding a hammer that she grabbed from the console to hit the Sontaran with.

Next, they'd gone to Sarah Jane. The Doctor had saved Luke from getting run over after he was on the phone and hadn't seen the car. The boy had ran to his mother and pointed at them at they looked over from the TARDIS doorway. Sarah Jane looked at them, eyes filled with tears, she knew that the man was about to regenerate.

Then gone to Jack next, the man sat at an alien bar alone, something had happened at Torchwood recently and they had heard that Ianto Jones had past away, this was the least they could do for Jack. The worst was that the TARDIS hadn't even informed them that the Earth was in danger, so Jack had to deal with it with his team. They scribbled him a small note, saying that the man next to him was called Alonzo.

Then they went to visit Verity Newman, the granddaughter of Joan Redfern who was a Matron during 1913, someone the Doctor met when he had to hide as a human as the Family searched from him and Martha. The woman had found her grandmother diary and turned it into a book. She recognised the Doctor as they got the book sighed. Star knew the woman hadn't a clue who she was, she hadn't been there at the time and that was fine, this was about the Doctor and his final moments.

Visiting Donna was harder but they appeared at her wedding as the pictures were taking place. Wilf and Sylvia spotted them and came over. Naismith and his daughter had been arrested. The Doctor had wanted to give Donna a wedding present, though Donna may not remember she was still his best friend. They'd nipped back in time and borrowed a quid of Donna's father and used it to by a lottery ticket that they knew was a winning ticket, that way she wouldn't have to worry about her financial problems.

To the Doctors utter confusion there was still one more person he needed to see.

Rose.

It had been a lot harder to see her, with her in a parallel universe, but Star had piloted them to January 1st 2005, just before they met each other, she didn't tell the Doctor that and watched on the monitor inside the TARDIS, knowing that the Doctor needed to do this alone.

Soon Rose had run off, and the Doctor stumbled back to the TARDIS in pain, the regeneration creeping closer. Star ran out the doors and over to his side, supporting him.

"We will sing to you, Doctor," Ood Sigma appeared, "The universe will sing you to your sleep. This song is ending. But the story never ends."

Star swallowed a she lead the Doctor into the TARDIS; he leaned on her as she led him up to the console. She took his jacket and placed it on the y-beam as tried to pilot them into the vortex before Star finished piloting them, allowing he to save his strength.

The Doctor cupped her face in his hands and they started to glow, "I don't want to go," he whispered to her.

"I know," She swallowed hard, she didn't want him to go either, to have someone else take his place would be...different. She'd been brought up knowing that regeneration happened but still... "I…I'll see you in a minute," she offered stepping away.

He threw his arms out and head back as the energy took over.

It was too much for the TARDIS as the console room caught fire from the energy, and Star was flung into the captain's chair.

When she looked up the Doctor, the new Doctor was checking himself over. He had floppy brown hair, deep green eyes, slightly more muscular this time and his eyebrows, there wasn't any! No…he did have eyebrows but they were so delicate they were nearly invisible.

"Legs," he grinned, lifting his legs up for closer inspection, "I've still got legs. Good," he kissed his knee, "Arms, hands, ooh fingers, lots of fingers. Ears, yes. Eyes, two. Nose, I've had worse. Chin, blimey. Hair," he ran his hands though his brown floppy hair, "I'm a girl."

"If you're a girl, then you're a very ugly girl," Star smirked cheekily at him.

He immediately grabbed his Adams apple, "No…" he sighed in relieve, "Not a girl." He pulled his hair down over his eyes, "And still not ginger!" he pouted at Star before growing serious and he looked deep into her eyes, "And something else, something important…"

"We're crashing?" she suggested not at all surprised.

"Yes!" he cheered, pointing at her as an explosion went off; "We're crashing!" they both rushed to the console, "Geronimo!"

**To be continued in... Among the stars.**

**Ashena-Iulik: Im glad you like the story :)**


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